By Shivansh Tiwary and Dan Catchpole
FARNBOROUGH, England, July 22 (Reuters) – Boeing edged Airbus in a subdued series of order announcements at the Farnborough Airshow this week, as the global aerospace industry focuses on fixing lingering supply constraints and catching up on record order backlogs.
The deals — worth tens of billions of dollars — were in line with expectations within the industry for just over 300 orders, reported by Reuters ahead of the event, but fell short of some bullish external forecasts reaching as high as 800 aircraft.
The once-addictive buzz surrounding orders at air shows has been fading in recent years as planemakers avoid giving jarring messages at a time when they are struggling industrially, and as airlines digest a record number of aircraft still on order.
“I didn’t have high expectations of big commercial orders at the show, not particularly because of the current macro or geopolitical climate, but because a lot of large orders are already out there,” airline analyst John Strickland said.
Boeing announced firm and preliminary orders for 173 aircraft, helped by a mix of narrowbody and widebody deals, while its European rival announced 154 firm and provisional orders, for a total of 327, according to a Reuters tally.
After excluding deals already in manufacturer order books without the buyer initially being named — including Boeing’s half of a big lessor order — the overall tally was 218 aircraft.
That’s up slightly on the previous Farnborough event in 2024, but well below the 2018 cyclical peak of 1,109 orders for the two dominant manufacturers.
Following years of supply-chain disruptions, labour shortages and manufacturing setbacks, Airbus and Boeing have amassed order books stretching well into the next decade.
With manufacturers focused on increasing output and airlines facing long waits for new jets, air shows are generating fewer headline-grabbing orders and even planes than in the past.
“Demand is not the issue,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope told reporters on the eve of the show.
Airbus showed off its A350-1000 as it considers stretching the jet to counter Boeing’s delayed 777X.
Boeing did not bring any of its major commercial variants, three of which are in the process of being certified.
200 AIRPLANE DEAL FOR LESSOR
The week’s biggest commercial deal came from the world’s second-largest lessor SMBC Aviation, which split an order for 200 single-aisle jets evenly between the two main planemakers, buying 100 Boeing 737 MAX and 100 Airbus A320neo-family jets.
The deal underscored still-strong demand for narrowbody aircraft, the workhorses of short- and medium-haul travel, despite scarce delivery slots and supplier bottlenecks.
Other deals included continued demand for widebody jets, with Riyadh Air and Philippine Airlines shopping at both manufacturers and leasing giant AerCap buying more Boeing 787s.
Regional aircraft maker Embraer reported orders for 50 of its planes including 20 freighters.
Away from the main aircraft stands, a key feature of the show was a record order for more than 1,000 LEAP-1A engines from CFM International to power 500 previously ordered Airbus jets.
A previous aircraft order boom stoked in part by low interest rates has placed high industrial demands on the engine industry, leading to parts shortages and maintenance delays.
Both CFM and Pratt & Whitney, the main supplier affected, said the industrial situation was improving steadily.
(Writing by Shivansh Tiwary; Additional reporting by Dan Catchpole, Joanna Plucińska, Maria Rugamer and Tim Hepher; Editing by Joe Brock and Sharon Singleton)
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