The dust has settled on the first Farnborough Airshow in four years, and with this, we reflect
on the ubiquitous post-airshow question: In the battle of Boeing and Airbus, who won?
Let’s look at the numbers in today’s video…
Without a doubt, Boeing had an excellent Farnborough Airshow. The planemaker walked
away with firm orders for 192 commercial passenger jets, plus an MoU from Azerbaijan
Airlines for 4 787-8s. Boeing is yet to update its orders and deliveries report for July,
but when it does, its 2022 firm order tally will have grown by 67% to 478 airplanes.
Notable was airline confidence in the 737 MAX family. An incredible 95% of the Farnborough
Airshow orders for Boeing were for the MAX, with almost two-thirds from the yet-to-be-certified 737
MAX 10 alone (much aided by the significant order from Delta Air Lines on day one of the show).
But the MAX 8 put in a good showing as well, with Qatar and ANA firming up deals for the type.
The 777 Partners investment company also added 30 firm aircraft to the order book,
which included the high-density MAX 8-200 variant created for Ryanair.
Of course, it wasn’t only the MAX that proved popular. Nine Dreamliners were signed for in
total: Five firm and four under a MoU from Azerbaijan Airlines. This is despite the
widebody still undeliverable at the moment, and the market for new widebodies still recovering.
On the cargo side, Boeing also sold four more 767-300 Boeing converted freighters
and another three 737-800 BCFs. It also received a conversion from ANA
for two passenger 777-9s to the new 777-8 freighter. Various other MRO,
software and services deals were signed, keeping Boeing very busy at Farnborough.
Airbus had a much quieter time at Farnborough. While Delta increased its share of the A220 space
with a commitment for an additional 20 A220-300s, the only other real order was from LATAM for 17
more A321neos. Additionally, easyJet shareholders approved an additional 56 A320neo family jets.
This was announced well before Farnborough Airshow, so it wasn’t truly an airshow order.
The European planemaker highlighted its green initiatives. Projects like the Blue Condor,
which will gather data from hydrogen engine emissions, and the CFM Open Rotor
technology announcement, made for some very interesting briefings. But on the face of it,
Airbus was somewhat smoked by Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow
But let’s be realistic here. Airbus went into the Airshow well ahead of its rival.
Compared with Boeing’s 286 gross orders year to date, Airbus was in front with 442 gross orders
by the end of June. Adding the Airshow deals to these figures puts Boeing ahead, but not by much.
With the easyJet deal already included in June’s figures, Airbus will add just 29 planes to its
books after including show figures. Boeing will add a substantial 196, giving it a total of 482
year-to-date versus Airbus’ 471. However, that lead of 11 planes might be quite short lived.
For starters, the post-Farnborough order from German leisure airline Condor will
see more A320neos added to Airbus’ order book, although it’s not yet
clear how many of the 41 jets will be purchased and how many will be leased.
Then, of course, there’s the huge 292 plane order snagged by Airbus from
Chinese airlines just before Farnborough. If and when those deals are firmed up,
it will put Boeing very much on the back foot in terms of 2022 total orders.
Did Boeing win the Farnborough Airshow for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.