Boeing may win this year’s aircraft orders race

In an interview with France Inter On December 10, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said they were likely to lose this year’s order race with Boeing. For the first time in 6 years, Boeing can gain a larger market share, thanks to US President Donald Trump’s import tax policy.

On December 10, Boeing announced that in the first 11 months of the year, they received a total of 1,000 orders. After subtracting cancellations, the net number of orders was 908. Meanwhile, Airbus’ net number was 700.

Airbus is still ahead in terms of deliveries and backorders. “We’ve been ahead in orders for five years. Therefore, our backlog is much higher than our competitors,” Faury explained.

However, Boeing “is supported by the US import tax negotiation process with other countries”, when aircraft orders become an option to resolve trade tensions.

President Trump also announced that he helped Boeing reach the 1,000 order milestone. Airlines announced orders for hundreds of wide-body aircraft after Mr. Trump’s visit to the Gulf in May.

“Boeing gave me the ‘greatest salesman in Boeing history’ award. I think I sold 1,000 units. Now they just need to produce it,” he said.

Analysts said some airlines ordered Boeing aircraft, or carefully chose the time to announce orders to reduce trade tensions with the US this year, especially in Asia. At a September conference, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg admitted that “the government is very supportive” in promoting the sales campaign, and that they benefit from Mr. Trump’s efforts to increase exports. He emphasized that demand for new aircraft models is also driving sales.

When asked about information about China placing a large order, Faury said that he did not expect to order several hundred aircraft in the near future, but they were approved for previous orders. Meanwhile, Airbus said it has reached an agreement with China to continue delivering 120 pre-ordered aircraft.

Airbus is also pushing to sign an agreement to sell 100 A220s to AirAsia, competing with Brazil’s Embraer. The recall to fix software errors on thousands of A320 series aircraft has also been completed. The actual number of aircraft that need to be handled is nearly 4,000 and all have been resolved, Faury confirmed.