Airbus Adds to Airshow Order Total

UPDATE: Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus Group NV Tuesday for 50 A330-900neo aircraft for AirAsia X, the Malaysian company’s low-cost, long-haul subsidiary. At a current list price of around $275 million, the order is worth about $13.75 billion to the European aircraft maker.

A careful follower of the goings on at the Farnborough International Airshow might wonder if the only firms interested in placing new orders for passenger planes are leasing companies. And the big winner in the chase for those new orders is Airbus, which has added orders totaling around $16 billion on Tuesday to $21 billion in orders taken Monday, to give the European maker a two-day total of $37 billion.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reported orders totaling around $21 billion for the two days, including new orders Tuesday from Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL) and CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT). Air Lease Corp. confirmed a previous order for 20 of Boeing’s new 737 MAX 8 aircraft and added an order for six of the company’s 777-300ER. The total value of the order is $3.9 billion at list prices.

CIT Aerospace ordered 10 of Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliners in a deal worth $2.5 million at current list prices. The aircraft leasing firm also placed an order for 15 of the new Airbus A330neo planes, although the company hasn’t decided which model of the A330neo it will take. The larger A330-900neo will carry a list price of about $275 million and the smaller A330-800neo will cost about $242 million.

Other airplane leasing firms, Connecticut-based Intrepid Aviation and Avolon, placed orders for six Boeing 777-300 ERs and six Boeing 787-9s, respectively. At current list prices, the Intrepid order is valued at $1.9 billion and the Avolon order at $1.5 billion. Avolon also reconfirmed an order for five Boeing 737 MAX 9s, for a total of $550 million at list prices.

Airbus announced an order Tuesday morning for 115 of its A320 single-aisle jets from Dublin-based leasing firm SMBC Aviation Capital. Of the total, five of the planes will be current A320s and 110 will be the new A320neo. At list prices the order is worth around $11.7 billion.

Airbus CEO John Leahy even leads in the quotable quote department. Leeham News cites this zinger from Leahy, “The only way a passenger will know he’s not on a 787 is that the seats will be bigger.”

Boeing’s stock traded down about 0.9% Tuesday morning, at $128.40 in a 52-week range of $101.77 to $144.57.

ALSO READ: Why a Boeing 787-9 Costs $250 Million