Airbus smashes orders at Dubai Air Show, Boeing trails behind

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Airbus kicked off the 2021 Dubai Air Show with a bang, landing massive deals from day one.

The French aerospace manufacturer had amassed 408 announced orders and commitments by the end of the show’s fourth day, Wednesday, while its American counterpart Boeing trailed with 101. Airbus and Boeing are the world’s two largest aerospace companies by revenue. 

The order numbers so far from the first major air show since the Covid-19 pandemic began are a positive sign for aviation and travel, which suffered devastating losses for much of the last 18 months. “We view orders for new aircraft as positive for the recovery of the commercial aerospace industry,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note Wednesday.

Airbus scored its first big win on day one of the air show, with an order for 255 of its narrow-body A321neo and A321XLR jets from American private equity firm Indigo Partners, which buys planes for low-cost carriers like Frontier, Wizz Air, Jetsmart and Volaris.

It then notched a letter of intent from Air Lease Corp, set to be finalized in the coming months, for 111 aircraft across the Airbus product range: 55 A321neos, 25 A220-300s, 20 A321XLRs, seven A350F freighters and four A330neos.

The deal from Indigo Partners, the first major aircraft order since the pandemic began,  was a “very positive signal that we [are starting] to be on the front foot again,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told CNBC during the show.

Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways committed to 28 Airbus A321neos, and Nigeria’s Ibom Air committed to its first Airbus purchase with an order for 10 A220s.

The popularity of narrow-body jets at this year’s air show came as a surprise to some analysts, who say the Middle East event is more known for orders of wide-body planes used for longer-haul flights. 

On the military side, Airbus also sold two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports, an aerial refueling tanker aircraft, to the UAE Air Force and Air Defense, and clinched a new export order for two A400M airlifters from the Indonesian Ministry of Defense.

Boeing saw some relief on Tuesday with a large order of 72 of its 737 Max from new Indian airline Akasa Air. It also had success with freighters, with orders for 11 of its 737-800BCF cargo planes from aircraft leasing company Icelease, nine converted 767-300BCF freighters from DHL, and orders for two of its long-range 777F freighters from Emirates SkyCargo. 

The American aerospace giant also received four orders of passenger planes and freighters from Air Tanzania and three of its widebody 777-300 passenger jets from UAE-based aviation services provider Sky One FZE.

Cargo planes and converted freighters are a hot sub-sector of the aviation industry as e-commerce booms and air shipment grows. Cargo is the only air traffic segment that has gone above 2019 levels. For Dubai’s flagship carried Emirates Airline alone, cargo operations in its…