The Paris Air Show yesterday opened with Airbus SE announcing orders for a new airplane as archrival Boeing Co struggles to contain the fallout from the grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX narrow-body jetliner.
Airbus won an order for 100 narrow-body aircraft from Air Lease Corp, including an all-new longer-range variant of the best-selling A320 family.
The order includes 27 A321 XLR, a model that was unveiled yesterday, 23 A321neos and 50 of the A220 jetliner that Airbus acquired from Bombardier Inc.
The list price of the baseline A321 is US$129.5 million, while the smaller A220 goes for as much as US$91.5 million, valuing the total order at US$11 billion before customary discounts.
The contract marks an important win for Airbus because of the significance of the two models. The XLR is a version of Airbus’ workhorse A320 family aimed at the middle-of-the-market segment that rival Boeing is also eyeing with its so-called new mid-market airplane (NMA) still in development.
Airbus is also trying to build up the order pipeline for the A220, formerly called the C Series jet.
Other likely buyers of the XLR include JetBlue Airways Corp and Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA.
An order from Air Lease provides the A220 with a seal of approval from one of the world’s most closely watched jet purchasers. Steven Udvar-Hazy, Air Lease’s founder and chairman, has been nicknamed the “godfather” of aircraft leasing for his role in founding the industry.
The aerospace industry’s biggest annual event, which alternates with the UK’s Farnborough Airshow, is traditionally a slugging match between Airbus and Boeing sales teams in the US$150 billion a year commercial aircraft market.
However, analysts expect this year’s show to be relatively subdued, with slowing economies, trade tensions and geopolitical uncertainty unsettling airlines, highlighted by a profit warning from Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG late on Sunday.
They expect anything from 400 to 800 commercial aircraft orders and commitments at the show, compared with 959 at Farnborough last year, though it can be hard to identify truly new business against firmed-up commitments and switched models.
Boeing chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg mounted a robust defense of the MAX, saying it can re-establish its position as a single-aisle workhorse for decades to come, as the company sorts through an in-depth review of the airframe design and its internal processes in the wake of two deadly crashes.
“The long-term, multi-decade strategy hasn’t changed,” Muilenburg said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Boeing is delaying decisions on the launch of the NMA, to give full attention to the 737 MAX and last-minute engine trouble on the forthcoming 777X, industry sources said.
FLYING FAR
The XLR is set to be the longest-range narrow-body jetliner as airlines look to maximize the flexibility of more fuel-efficient, single-aisle aircraft.
Its range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,334km) would leapfrog the out-of-production Boeing 757 and nudges it into the long-jump category occupied by more costly wide-body jets.
It also eats into a range category targeted by the NMA.
However, there is a debate over whether passengers will enjoy flying longer distances in medium-haul planes and at what price.
Muilenburg said that the XLR would only “scratch an edge” of the market segment targeted by the NMA.
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