An Airbus A330-323 plane, operated by Delta Air Lines.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Airbus kicked off the 2021 Dubai Air Show with a bang, touchdown large offers from day one.
The French aerospace producer had amassed 408 introduced orders and commitments by the top of the present’s fourth day, Wednesday, whereas its American counterpart Boeing trailed with 101. Airbus and Boeing are the world’s two largest aerospace firms by income.
The order numbers so removed from the primary main air present because the Covid-19 pandemic started are a optimistic signal for aviation and journey, which suffered devastating losses for a lot of the final 18 months. “We view orders for new aircraft as positive for the recovery of the commercial aerospace industry,” Morgan Stanley mentioned in a analysis notice Wednesday.
Airbus scored its first big win on day one of many air present, with an order for 255 of its narrow-body A321neo and A321XLR jets from American personal fairness agency Indigo Partners, which buys planes for low-cost carriers like Frontier, Wizz Air, Jetsmart and Volaris.
It then notched a letter of intent from Air Lease Corp, set to be finalized within the coming months, for 111 plane throughout the Airbus product vary: 55 A321neos, 25 A220-300s, 20 A321XLRs, seven A350F freighters and 4 A330neos.
The deal from Indigo Partners, the primary main plane order because the pandemic started, was a “very positive signal that we [are starting] to be on the front foot again,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury instructed CNBC throughout the present.
Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways dedicated to 28 Airbus A321neos, and Nigeria’s Ibom Air dedicated to its first Airbus buy with an order for 10 A220s.
The reputation of narrow-body jets at this 12 months’s air present got here as a shock to some analysts, who say the Middle East occasion is extra identified for orders of wide-body planes used for longer-haul flights.
On the army aspect, Airbus additionally bought two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports, an aerial refueling tanker plane, to the UAE Air Force and Air Defense, and clinched a brand new export order for 2 A400M airlifters from the Indonesian Ministry of Defense.
Boeing noticed some reduction on Tuesday with a big order of 72 of its 737 Max from new Indian airline Akasa Air. It additionally had success with freighters, with orders for 11 of its 737-800BCF cargo planes from plane leasing firm Icelease, 9 transformed 767-300BCF freighters from DHL, and orders for 2 of its long-range 777F freighters from Emirates SkyCargo.
The American aerospace big additionally acquired 4 orders of passenger planes and freighters from Air Tanzania and three of its widebody 777-300 passenger jets from UAE-based aviation providers supplier Sky One FZE.
Cargo planes and transformed freighters are a scorching sub-sector of the aviation business as e-commerce booms and air cargo grows. Cargo is the one air site visitors phase that has gone above 2019 ranges. For Dubai’s flagship carried Emirates Airline alone, cargo operations in its newest half-year earnings have been strong, seeing a 39% enhance and bringing the enterprise to 90% of the quantity it had pre-pandemic.
“The freighter markets are on fire right now. That’s where we see real growth,” Stan Deal, govt vice chairman of Boeing, instructed CNBC in Dubai on Sunday.
The firm plans so as to add three conversion strains — services that convert plane to freighters — for its 737-800BCF throughout North America and Europe.
Boeing has lengthy dominated the air cargo market, however its French rival Airbus may threaten that with its A350F, a cargo model of its widebody passenger A350-1000, ordered for the primary time in Dubai this week.
Boeing’s much-anticipated 777FX — the freighter model of its long-range widebody 777X passenger jet — didn’t launch at the Dubai present. Boeing has additionally been going through criticism from Emirates President Tim Clark over supply delays and technical issues with its 777X, which Emirates has ordered however whose supply has been pushed again to 2023.
The iconic American producer hasn’t been seen as having a profitable efficiency at a Dubai Air Show since 2017, when the corporate clinched a major sale of 40 787-10 jets to Emirates Airline at a worth of $15.1 billion on the present’s first day alone.
Ahead of the 2019 Dubai Air Show, Boeing’s gross sales have been badly hit following two catastrophic crashes of its well-liked 737 Max jet in lower than 5 months. Its fleet of roughly 400 737 Max jets world wide have been grounded for almost two years.
