Orders deluge manufacturers at the Paris Air Show
22 Jun 2011
Le Bourget, Paris: In Line with expectations, European commercial aircraft manufacturing giant, Airbus, racked up heavy sales at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, securing more than 100 firm orders. As for Canadian aerospace major, Bombardier Inc, it secured its first orders in Asia.
The Airbus A320neo continued to dominate the sweepstakes with more than 100 firm orders on the second day with European, Asian and US airlines, as well as leasing companies, placing orders that will - very likely - allow Airbus to overhaul the record 728 orders secured at the 2007 show.
According to observers, the avalanche of orders come even as US and Western European airlines look to replace older planes,, while Asian, MidEast and Latin American airlines represent growth markets.
The Airbus order book for the show swelled to 263 orders, valued at $26.1 billion, excluding discounts, with commitments for 121 A320-family planes on Tuesday. The Toulouse-based giant expects its A320neo orders to rest well above 600 by the end of the show on Thursday.
Airbus has scheduled two announcements for Wednesday and possibly one Thursday.
Canada's Bombardier secured its first Asian customer with Korean Air Lines signing a letter of intent for ten of the larger CSeries aircraft, with options for 10 more and purchase rights on 10 additional CS300 planes.
