Airbus hits $21 billion orders at air show as Boeing focuses on India crash

By Tim Hepher, Paul Sandle, Joe Brock and Giulia Segreti

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus secured more aircraft orders on Wednesday, raising its total to $21 billion at this week’s subdued Paris Air Show, while rival Boeing opted not to announce new sales following last week’s Air India 787 crash.

Airbus firmed up an order for 10 long-haul jets from Taiwan's Starlux Airlines in a boost for the European planemaker after one of its biggest customers, AirAsia, dashed expectations of another grand finale matching its earlier expansion.

Airbus won a total of 148 firm orders worth $14.2 billion including six previous ones disclosed publicly for the time, plus 102 provisional orders worth $6.7 billion, according to estimated delivery prices from UK-based Cirium Ascend.

Delegates had been bracing for a more muted show than usual after Boeing struck huge deals during U.S. President Donald Trump's recent trip to the Middle East. The U.S. jetmaker then scaled back its presence at the show to focus on the probe into last week's deadly crash of an Air India Boeing 787.

But Europe's Airbus has been steadily racking up business, and underscored confidence about growing demand by holding out the prospect of higher dividends. It prefaced each show announcement with sympathies for India victims, however.

"It is an air show with a regrettable tragedy that has affected all of us," Airbus planemaking CEO Christian Scherer told Reuters.

Despite the sombre tone, talk was rife before and during the event at Le Bourget outside Paris that Airbus might seal a major deal with AirAsia to add a final flourish to the gathering.

Airline entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia owner Capital A Group, told Reuters that it was in talks to buy 50 to 70 A321XLR jetliners, and 100 A220s or competing E2 regional jets from Brazil's Embraer.

But he played down the chances of a deal in Paris, saying the first priority was to complete the group's restructuring.

"We're still doing a lot of work with Airbus and other (manufacturers) .... I think we'll look to do something imminently, in the next 1-3 months," he said in an interview.

Two industry sources said Airbus had made an "aggressive" offer to boost A220 orders and win a launch customer for a new 160-seat version but that talks stalled over financing. Another said it would be natural to resume discussions around July when the company expects to exit its financial troubles.

'DIFFERENT SHOW'

Embraer said on Wednesday it had secured an order for 60 of its E175 regional jets from SkyWest Airlines, which also agreed purchase rights for a further 50 of the aircraft.

Airbus announced an order for two A350 freighters from logistics company MNG Airlines, and EgyptAir was unveiled as the previously-undisclosed buyer of six A350-900 long-haul jets. 

Planemakers have been struggling to keep up with demand for new, more fuel-efficient aircraft since the end of pandemic-era travel restrictions, with supply chain problems - particularly with engines - delaying some deliveries. 

Airbus said on Wednesday, however, that since early 2025 it had experienced 40% fewer disruptions caused by delayed components at its production facilities.    

"It has been a very different air show from those we have seen in the past, which have tended to be wall-to-wall aircraft orders," Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa said.

"Civil orders have been affected by .... Boeing being very careful about how they announce or don't announce things," he said. In another shift, he said, Airbus focused on securing public backing for planes that could benefit from more orders like the A220, rather than its heavily sold-out A320neo family.

On the defence side of the show, U.S. drone maker Anduril and Germany's Rheinmetall said they would partner to build aerial drones for European markets, in a sign of Europe leveraging U.S. technology to boost military capabilities.  

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Paul Sandle, Giulia Segreti, Joe Brock and Lisa Barrington. Editing by Mark Potter and Nick Zieminski)