LE BOURGET, FRANCE: The world's biggest aircraft manufacturers affirmed the industry's strengthening recovery Monday, announcing more than $26 billion in orders and commitments for more than 200 new commercial planes. A large chunk of those deals secured on the first day of the Paris Air Show was for Airbus's latest version of the popular A320 single-aisle jet, which is being revamped with more fuel-efficient engines. The company said it had secured commitments for 126 A320neos, which, when finalized, would be worth as much as $6 billion at list prices. Neo stands for New Engine Option. Meanwhile, Boeing said it had received orders for up to 17 of the new stretched passenger version of its 747 jet, the 747-8i, placed by two unidentified customers and valued at as much as $5.4 billion. Airbus had been widely expected to announce a flurry of orders for the A320neo, which the plane maker says will be 15 percent more fuel-efficient than its current offering of single-aisle planes. The wave of announcements is likely to put pressure on Boeing to make a decision on whether to follow suit with an enhanced version of its competing 737 jet, or to develop an entirely new narrow-bodied jet for delivery at the beginning of the next decade. Two of the biggest A320neo buyers were leasing companies. GE Capital Aviation Services, the aircraft-leasing arm of General Electric, made a firm order for 60 A320neos, while Air Lease Corp., the Los Angeles-based company run by Steven Udvar-Hazy, formerly of AIG's International Lease Finance Corp., committed to buy 50 of the planes. The Scandinavian carrier SAS, which flies a mixed fleet of A320s and Boeing 737s, placed an order for 30 A320neos, worth around $2.7 billion, which it said would mainly be used to replace older A320s and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets in its fleet. It also signed options for 11 more of the planes. Airbus has yet to secure an order for the A320neo from an exclusive 737 operator. Meanwhile, Bombardier of Canada managed to build more customer momentum for its 100- to 148-seat C-Series regional jet, which it expects to enter service in 2013. The company said Monday that it had received a firm, $616 million order for 10 of its forthcoming C-Series regional jets from an unidentified “major network carrier,” bringing its total order book for the 100-seat CS100 to 113 from six customers. Several significant deals for wide-body jets were also announced Monday. In addition to the 17 commitments for the 747-8i, Boeing said the fast-growing Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways, had ordered six of its long-range twin-aisle jets, the 777-300ER, that it valued at $1.7 billion. That purchase had already been accounted for on Boeing's books this year, although the customer was not publicly identified. Udvar-Hazy also committed to buying a mix of 33 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Boeing. The plane maker did not disclose the value of that deal, which has yet to be finalized, but it would be worth roughly $3.9 billion, according to Boeing's published list prices. Air Lease said it had firmed up six previous commitments for 737-800s announced in 2010 and placed a firm order for 14 more of the single-aisle planes. It also ordered five new 737-300ER wide-body planes and four 787-9 Dreamliners.
