Boeing and Airbus made twin announcements of new sales of civilian jetliners at the big Singapore Airshow yesterday, and the total was only a tenth of last year’s $30 billion in orders. At the same time, the show saw brisk sales for military aviation vendors.
The Boeing announcement, worth $1.3 billion, covers six 737s for Okay Airways, a privately-owned Chinese carrier. Airbus matched that with a 6-plane order from Philippine Airlines, which is spending $1.8 billion for A350-900s.
The numbers seem low in the face of projected demand for thousands of new jetliners over the next few years, both as replacements and to carry the growing number of passengers and cargo. But for now, the airlines that were spending big last year and the year before to replace older, less-economical planes may be holding onto them a bit longer, now that the price of aviation fuel is, for the moment, quite low.
Photo: Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 in flight. (Sebastien Lebrigand / Wikimedia)
