Aircraft sales at last week’s Farnborough AirShow, a traditional moment for manufacturers to sign and announce new deals, were sharply off from last year’s totals, but airline executives’ frustration over delivery delays was up.
At this year’s show, Airbus took 164 orders to Boeing’s 96 plus 22 options, against last year’s 846 and 356. Last year’s Airbus total was swollen by two massive orders from India.
Ove the past few years, delay has been one of the biggest stories in the industry, with Boeing several years behind in getting its 777x models certified and with manufacturing problems with other models, and with Airbus deliveries heavily impacted by engine issues.
The delays have forced airlines to alter plans and in some cases keep planes in service longer than intended, a situation that has serious impact on sales. George Ferguson, an industry analyst, pointed out that while widebody sales had held up, “Narrowbody orders placed at Farnborough struggled … as Boeing and Airbus weren’t likely to make deals for jets which have plenty of backlog and the largest supply chain headaches.”
