Le Bourget, France – Global airliner rivals Boeing and Airbus notched up new orders from Algeria and the Philippines at the Paris Air Show Tuesday, after the European manufacturer snagged the biggest-ever single civilian contract.
Philippine Airlines will buy nine of Airbus’ A350-1000 widebody planes, while Air Algerie snapped up eight of Boeing’s medium-haul 737 MAX-9 aircraft.
At list prices — usually higher than discounted bulk orders — the Airbus deal is worth $3.3 billion and Boeing’s $1 billion.
With both plane builders’ order books well stocked, Philippine Airlines can expect delivery from 2025 while Air Algeria will have to wait until 2027.
Faced with growing demand for long-haul planes, Airbus is pushing to increase production of the A350, its latest airliner, setting a target of nine per month by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s sales of the 737-MAX appear to be hauling it out of a slump triggered by both Covid and the aircraft’s lengthy grounding after two fatal crashes.
Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair in May ordered 300 of the planes.
Earlier Tuesday, Australian carrier Qantas confirmed it would buy nine of Airbus’ smaller A220 jets, the manufacturer said.
Tuesday’s deals have yet to match the 500-plane order made with Airbus by Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo, at a list price of $55 billion.
Those planes from the A320 family are not expected to be delivered until 2030-35.