Singapore order caps a big week for Airbus

PARIS — The Paris Air Show brought Airbus 425 bookings worth tens of billions of dollars, a welcome distraction from troubles at the plane maker and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense and Space.

While U.S. rival Boeing's performance at the industry's biggest gathering paled in comparison, the U.S. company went into the show at an advantage and still has the more popular airplane, the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing's CEO said the company may boost production facilities to keep up with demand for the jet.

Many of Airbus' 425 orders came not from new customers but were confirmations of previous commitments to buy its planes. The only deal announced Friday was with Singapore Airlines, which signed a contract for 20 A350-XWB aircraft, affirming a commitment announced last July.

Still, Airbus got a boost for its morale and its fortunes, especially those of the A350-XWB, the Europeans' rival to the Dreamliner.

Airbus has been struggling to win customers in the lucrative market for medium-sized, long-range jets since the company was forced into an expensive redesign of the A350 by unhappy customers — resulting in the extra-wide-body, or XWB, model. The changes have pushed back the first delivery date of the plane until 2013, years behind the first delivery of Boeing's 787, which is due in May 2008.

Airbus took in 141 new firm orders this week for the A350-XWB, the company said Friday, though that included conversions of orders for the earlier A350.

The world's biggest passenger jet, Airbus' A380 superjumbo, fared less well, with just three new firm orders. Delays to the A380 wiped billions of dollars off profit forecasts at EADS a year ago, and along with management turmoil made 2006 a bruising year for one of Europe's biggest companies.

Most of Airbus' bookings this week came for the single-aisle A320 family, the company said, with 198 firm orders. It also won 83 firm orders for the A330-A340 family.

In addition to the firm orders, Airbus said it received new commitments this week for a total of 303 aircraft. Overall, its orders, including firm deals and commitments, totaled more than $88 billion at catalog prices, though airlines routinely negotiate deep discounts.

That was well above the $33.5 billion Airbus announced at the last Paris Air Show, in 2005, also based on list price.

This year's show put Airbus ahead of Boeing in terms of total orders so far this year, with Airbus at 626 and Boeing at 510. Airbus led Boeing on sales for several years but fell behind in 2006.

Boeing continued to pull in customers for the Dreamliner at Le Bourget outside Paris — including a major deal with the original launch customer for the A350, Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corp.

"Our long-standing policy is not to store up order announcements for an air show," said Boeing spokesman Charlie Miller. "We used the show to confirm that the 787 remains on schedule for first delivery in May 2008, and we look forward with growing excitement to the 787 rollout on July 8."

Given the heavy order loads for the 787, Boeing is studying ways to boost its production capacities, Chief Executive Jim McNerney said in an interview published Friday with French business daily Les Echos. He also said he expects large orders from US airlines by the end of this year or at the start of 2008.

Airbus is still expected to report another big loss this year. Worker morale is low, as Airbus pushes ahead with job cuts and factory selloffs as part of a restructuring plan meant to recoup losses from the A380 delays.