AIR Airbus SE

By Olivia Bugault

Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus SE (AIR.FR) booked over 300 commercial plane orders and commitments at the Dubai Air Show, as the aerospace industry faces a slowdown in traffic growth, production delays, falling airline profitability and the aftershock of the Boeing MAX jetliner grounding.

The five-day event wrapped up with Airbus outclassing its U.S. rival both in terms of orders and commitments secured, and in total deal value. Here is a summary of how the plane makers fared at the biennial aerospace expo.

BOEING VS AIRBUS: Boeing ended a lull in MAX orders as two airlines--Kazakhstan's Air Astana and Turkey's SunExpress--ordered its still-grounded jetliner. The plane maker is still awaiting regulatory approval to return the aircraft to service and has struggled to strike new deals since its grounding in March following two fatal crashes.

During the show, Emirates swapped a previous order of 30 Boeing 777X jets for 30 of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, a setback for Boeing as the original deal would have meant a higher gain.

Airbus showed its strength as it reeled in a bunch of large orders including a deal with Air Arabia for 120 A320neos valued at $14 billion at Airbus's 2018 list price and before customary discounts. Although Airbus beat Boeing in terms of orders at the show, the European plane maker still faces production issues and cut its delivery guidance for the year.

Following is a table of the top commercial buyers for each plane maker, based on preliminary data compiled by Dow Jones. Prices are given before industry-standard discounts.

 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    BUYER                 ORDER      PLANE            LIST PRICE VALUE 
 
    GECAS                 32         A330neo             $6 bln 
                                     A321XLR 
 
    Air Arabia            120        A320neo             $14 bln 
                                     A321neo 
                                     A321XLR 
    Emirates Airlines     50         A350-900            $16 bln 
    EasyJet               12         A320neo             $1.3 bln 
 
 
   AIRBUS TOTAL           232                            $40 bln 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 
   BUYER                 ORDER      PLANE            LIST PRICE VALUE 
 
   Emirates Airline      30         787-9                $8.8 bln 
   Air Astana            30         737 MAX              $3.6 bln 
   SunExpress            10         737 MAX              $1.2 bln 
 
   BOEING TOTAL          75                              $14.5 bln 
   Source: Boeing, Airbus 
 
 *Total estimated values refer to all orders & commitments received, excluding purchase rights, leases and options. 

ANALYSTS HAD THIS TO SAY:

On Airbus's A350..."Emirates' order of 50 A350s at Dubai Airshow confirms good A350 XWB momentum." -UBS

On number of orders..."With the Dubai Air Show scheduled to run from November 17-21st, order announcements have been relatively healthy, but BA lags Airbus," -Jefferies

Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 22, 2019 06:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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