Airbus leading Boeing in Paris Air Show orders

On the fourth day of the world's largest air show, which has seen far fewer deals than years past, Airbus and Hungary's budget carrier Wizz Air signed a memorandum of understanding for 50 A320 single-aisle passenger jets worth a total of US$3.8 billion at list prices.

Airbus' Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said at a signing ceremony that he hopes Wizz Air will firm up its order shortly.

Chicago-based Boeing Co.'s only order so far this week, worth US$153 million at list prices, paled beside the US$6.25 billion chalked up by Airbus. The Wizz Air commitment is not included in the tally because it is not legally binding.

Separately, China Eastern Airlines announced overnight it is buying 20 A320s, but the deal is an allocation from a bulk order placed by CASGC, a government procurement agency, and not a new deal, Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon said. Boeing shrugged off the Airbus announcements, saying the company doesn't save up orders to announce at air shows.

Yet even Airbus' numbers were diminutive compared to sales in past years. Airlines and governments strapped for cash and credit appeared to have come to the air show mostly as tourists instead of buyers this year, admiring the high-tech hardware but hiding their checkbooks.

Airbus' spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said he is “confident there are more orders to come,” but time was running out as many exhibitors arrived on the fourth day of the week-long air show with suitcases in hand. The air show, which has also been haunted by unresolved questions about the crash of Air France Flight 447, opens to the public on Friday. With commercial orders scarce, American defense contractors elbowed into the troubled market for European military transport planes at the air show.

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