The world’s biggest air show continued yesterday with European plane maker Airbus expected to book more orders, including an anticipated deal with Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways.
Boeing was also scheduled to deliver an update on the status of its 787 jetliner on the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow.
The 787, touted by Boeing for its greater fuel-efficiency potential since it’s the first large jetliner to be built mostly from lighter, carbon-fiber composites, has been hampered by delays that have cost the Chicago-based company credibility and billions of dollars in expected additional costs and penalties.
Airlines from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have so far saved the air show from an otherwise lackluster start, signing orders for around 150 planes worth more than US$25 billion on Monday.
With many European and US airlines expected to refrain from inking big deals as they cope with rocketing fuel prices and dampening passenger demand from the credit crunch, Middle Eastern carriers with the benefit of oil-backed sovereign wealth funds have stepped into the breach.
The biggest deal so far came from Etihad Airways, which split an order for 100 aircraft between Airbus and Boeing worth US$20 billion at list prices. The deal comprised 55 Airbus planes worth US$11 billion at list prices and 45 Boeing planes worth US$9 billion.
The recently launched low-cost airline FlyDubai also used the biennial show — it alternates with an event in Le Bourget in France — to announce an order for 50 Boeing planes worth around US$3.74 billion.
In a smaller deal, Saudi Arabian Airlines signed a contract with Airbus for eight planes worth US$1.6 billion.
At the Paris air show last year, 506 orders were taken between Airbus and Boeing. Credit Suisse said it expected around 200 to 300 orders to be announced at Farnborough.
Airbus chief salesman John Leahy said he would be disappointed if the firm didn’t book orders for 200 planes this week.
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing’s Seattle-based commercial airplanes unit said on Monday that Boeing had not received any cancelations, although “a handful” of customers had asked to delay their purchase.
Almost 1,500 exhibitors from 35 countries are showing off the latest in aviation technology at Farnborough.
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
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
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
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