Airbus fired the first shots at the Paris Air Show yesterday, a vital battleground for the European plane maker and its US rival Boeing, with news of big orders from Middle Eastern clients.
Qatar Airways, Kuwait's Jazeera Airways and Dubai-based Emirates, as well as the Russian airline S7 announced new business for the European manufacturer, which is looking to shore up confidence in its aircraft following production and design problems.
By lunchtime at the Paris event, Airbus had announced orders and agreements worth more than US$30 billion amid a public relations blitz that included another giant deal with US Airways.
PHOTO: AP
The week-long Paris Air Show sees Airbus and Boeing, the world's biggest manufacturers of civilian aircraft, go head-to-head in a commercial and marketing contest.
The companies use the event, which features deafening air displays as well as deal-making, to clinch new business and announce orders for their latest aircraft.
Despite appearances, the European group lags far behind its US rival Boeing for new orders this year and recently launched a radical restructuring plan after making a loss for the first time in its history last year.
At the end of last month, Airbus had reported 201 new orders for planes this year, while Boeing had 429 at the beginning of this month.
Among the Airbus deals that were announced yesterday, Qatar Airways said it would buy three A380 superjumbos and confirmed a previously announced order for 80 mid-sized A350s.
Emirates is to buy eight more A380s, and Jazeera Airways placed a firm order for 30 single-aisled A320 planes.
S7, the second biggest Russian airline after Aeroflot, also signed a firm order for 25 Airbus A320 single-aisle planes. The order is worth US$1.8 billion, and the short-haul jets are to be delivered starting in 2009, Airbus said.
Separately, US Airways announced it had signed a letter of intent to buy 92 Airbus aircraft, including 22 mid-sized A350 planes.
Boeing, whose 787 mid-sized plane has so far eclipsed the A350, was expected to hit back at Airbus with news of jumbo orders later yesterday or during the week.
The US firm announced yesterday that Indonesian airline Lion Air had placed a firm order for 40 additional single-aisled Boeing 737-900 ER planes worth more than US$3 billion at catalogue prices.
Aircraft leasing group GECAS also said yesterday that it had placed a firm order for six Boeing 777 cargo aircraft.
The Paris Air Show began yesterday for industry professionals, but opens its doors to the public for three days from Thursday.
About 400,000 people are expected to visit the event at the Le Bourget airfield on the outskirts of Paris.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique