Customers announced orders and commitments during the week for a total of 182 Boeing commercial airplanes, valued at $26.8 billion at list prices.
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“With this aircraft we believe we will hit 100 million passengers in the not-too-distant future”, Fernandes said, adding negotiations started over a meal in an Iranian restaurant in London previous year, for which he said he paid the bill.
An AirAsia order for 100 A321neo jets, valued at over $12 billion, was Airbus’ largest for the show.
Analysts had warned that commercial orders would be muted at this year show over worries of a slowing global economy and air traffic growth rates.
“Our orders this week at Farnborough confirm a buoyant industry”, Airbus COO-customers John Leahy said.
Airbus and Boeing, especially, are clearly using their Farnborough chalets to gauge the interest of airline execs for potential larger variants of their newest aircraft.
The order haul includes two Airbus A330 planes that British Airways-parent International Consolidated Airlines Group SA said it would buy for Aer Lingus.
Talking about the single-aisle jets orders, Boeing agreed to provide an unidentified Chinese client with 30 737 jets which would be a mix of the current model and the re-engined Max version, worth more than $3 billion at list prices.
Airbus had ended last year’s show in Paris with orders and commitments for 421 aircraft worth $57 billion, against 331 aircraft worth $50.2 billion for Boeing.
Finalises deal for Russian heavy cargo carrier Volga-Dnepr to buy 20 747-8 freighters, worth $7.6 billion at list prices. The proposed deal, if fully exercised, is valued at up to $3.39 billion.
Boeing also announced an extension of its fleet maintenance operations agreement with Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA through 2034 to cover the airline’s incoming fleet of 108 737 MAX aircraft, scheduled to begin delivery in 2017, as well as the airline’s entire existing and future 787 fleet.
Boeing, which celebrates its centennial tomorrow, has seen multi-billion dollar orders and commitments across the company, including defence platforms, commercial airplanes and services agreements.
“On the commercial side of the business, we were pleased at the confidence our customers displayed in our portfolio of airplanes and services”, Boeing chairman, president and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said.
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Through Wednesday morning, Airbus has announced 262 orders, compared with 102 for Boeing, according to a count at The Wall Street Journal.
