Editor

Ian Sheppard

<p>Another bumper day at the Paris Air Show saw more than $27 billion worth of orders (firm and memorandums of understanding) for commercial airliners placed by airlines desperate to get the best deals they can before the upturn really kicks in. Airbus had another great day with a raft of new A320neo orders to add to its show tally. Leading the way was Republic Airways Holdings of the U.S., which signed a memorandum of understanding for 80 aircraft (worth about $7 billion at current manufacturer list prices), 40 being A320neos and the other 40 A319neos. As part of the order Republic Airways becomes the launch customer for the A319neo. The airline said it had selected CFM’s Leap-X engine to power its Neo jets. Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo chose to firm up an order for 150 A320neos and 30 A320s (total worth $13.5 billion) following the MOU it signed in January for 180 A320-family aircraft. Engine selection will be decided at a future date. LAN signed a firm order for 20 A320neos (worth $1.8 billion), thereby becoming the first in Latin America company to sign an order for the re-engined A320. However, LAN was soon followed by AviancaTaca, which ordered 33 (worth $3 billion) as part of an MOU covering a total of 51 A320/A320neos. This broke another record as the largest order ever from a Latin American carrier, in terms of number of aircraft. The recently merged airline already operates 78 Airbus A320-family aircraft. Adding to the order tally on a rainy Le Bourget morning was Kuwaiti leasing company Alafco, which added six more A350XWBs (worth $1.6 billion) to its existing order to take the total to 18 aircraft. Alafco is one of the companies to have altered its order from A350-800s to -900s over the past year. Boeing meanwhile announced an order from UTair Aviation of Russia for 40 737NGs (seven 737-900ERs and 33 737-800s, worth a total of over $3.2 billion). The carrier operates some 30 Boeing aircraft already, including 737-800s with the new Boeing Sky Interior. Also having a successful day was AgustaWestland, which received an order from emergency services operator INAER for 10 AW169 helicopters (the AW169 is due to be certificated in 2014), and from Russia’s Exclases Holdings for eight AW139 medium twin helicopters.</p>


Paris 2011: Air Show’s Day 3 Sees $27 Billion Worth of Orders Placed

Another bumper day at the Paris Air Show saw more than $27 billion worth of orders (firm and memorandums of understanding) for commercial airliners placed 