Airbus Leads Boeing in sales at Paris Air Show

Airbus remained ahead of archrival Boeing Co. in the hunt for orders at the Paris Air Show on Thursday, when a Hungarian airline said it was interested in buying another 50 of its commercial jets.

On the fourth day of the world's largest air show, which has seen far fewer deals than years past, Airbus and Hungary's budget carrier Wizz Air signed a memorandum of understanding for 50 A320 single-aisle passenger jets worth a total of $3.8 billion at list prices.
Airbus' Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said at a signing ceremony that he hopes Wizz Air will firm up its order shortly.

Boeing Co.'s only order so far this week, worth $153 million at list prices, paled beside the $6.25 billion chalked up by Airbus. The Wizz Air commitment is not included in the tally because it is not legally binding.

Separately, China Eastern Airlines announced overnight it is buying 20 A320s, but the deal is an allocation from a bulk order placed by CASGC, a government procurement agency, and not a new deal, Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon said. Boeing shrugged off the Airbus announcements, saying the company doesn't save up orders to announce at air shows.

Yet even Airbus' numbers were diminutive compared to sales in past years. Airlines and governments strapped for cash and credit appeared to have come to the air show mostly as tourists instead of buyers this year, admiring the high-tech hardware but hiding their checkbooks. Airbus' spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said he is "confident there are more orders to come," but time was running out as many exhibitors arrived to the fourth day of the week-long air show with suitcases in hand.

The air show, which has also been haunted by unresolved questions about the crash of Air France Flight 447, opens to the public on Friday. With commercial orders scarce, American defense contractors elbowed into the troubled market for European military transport planes at the air show.

As delays mount for Airbus' troubled new A400M military transport airlifter, Lockheed-Martin and Boeing are offering their proven C-130J and C-17 models as alternatives to the European air forces who are in urgent need of a new transport.

"Many countries in Europe are looking at their airlift requirements and they need to make decisions in the short term," Peter Simmons, spokesman for Lockheed's Air Mobility division, said Wednesday. "We have been approached by a number of countries in Europe to fulfill that role." Boeing also says it has held talks with members of the seven-nation consortium involved in the Airbus program.

The A400M transporter program was launched in 2003 with a joint order for 180 planes from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. But Airbus missed a March 31 contractual deadline for the first flight, and is negotiating new technical requirements and commercial terms with the seven buyers.

Analysts say the project could even be on the verge of collapse. The costly delay is especially painful for recession-hit governments.

(Associated Press - AP)