Boeing and Airbus are both seeking attention this week with sales news. The two big aircraft makers, who between them make almost all of the world’s large airliners never like to let their horns go untooted.
Boeing’s big news this week is in 787 sales; they’ve just inked a deal with Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s largest, for 40 787-9 airliners, and a deal with Japan Airlines for 4 787-8s. That’s about $12 billion together at list prices.
Turkish Airlines will use the planes mainly to extend its route system that uses Istanbul as a hub for reaching hundreds of destinations. It will move next year to a new airport that will be one of the world’s largest.
But Airbus has a share in the Turkish news, too: there are reports that the airline is also interested in up to 40 of Airbus’s A350s. In the meantime, Airbus has been celebrating delivery of its 1500th plane to U.S. airlines, an A321 that will fly for American Airlines. That’s quite an achievement for a company that once had to led A300s for free to Eastern Airlines to convince U.S. buyers to even give it a look.
