Tuesday brought a second flurry of significant commercial airliner orders to airframers at the Farnborough Airshow. The overall value totaled about $50 billion, with Embraer enjoying the headline-grabbing deals of the day (see page one) and Boeing regaining ground gained by Airbus on the show’s first day. The new business took the total value of new airliner contracts announced at the 2018 show close to $100 billion.
Air Lease Corp. and Boeing signed a $9.6 billion contract covering orders and commitments for seventy-five 737 Max 8s and three 787-9 Dreamliners. The latter plus 20 of the Max 8 aircraft are firm orders, with the remaining 55 aircraft being held as options.
CargoLogicHolding and its partner Volga-Dnepr Group signed a new $9 billion memorandum of understanding with Boeing that calls for delivery of up to twenty-nine 777 freighters, and firmed up a $2 billion order for five 747-8F freighters. The agreement signed at the Farnborough show on Tuesday morning also calls for Boeing to provide a crew optimization service and to work with the cargo carriers in developing future freighter aircraft programs.
Aviation Capital Group announced the $2.3 billion order for 20 Max 8s, taking its total number of direct purchases for the type past 100 units. Another leasing group, GECAS, ordered thirty-five 737-800 converted freighters.
Boeing also landed a couple of significant new support contracts. Xiamen Airlines became the first Chinese carrier to sign up for its optimized maintenance program, as well as simulator services for its 737 fleet. Primera Air signed a contract to have global fleet care coverage for its 737s.
Airbus received a commitment for 60 of the newly rebranded A220-300 (formerly the Bombardier C Series). The agreement—worth almost $5.5 billion at list prices—was signed with a new U.S. airline being backed by a group of investors led by JetBlue founder David Neeleman that will reportedly operate under the name Moxy.
“The A220 will enable us to serve thinner routes in comfort without compromising cost, especially on longer-range missions,” said Neeleman. “With deliveries starting in 2021, we will have ample time to assemble a world-class management team and another winning business model.”
Meanwhile, Airbus signed an agreement worth approximately $2.5 billion with an undisclosed customer for eight A350-900 widebodies. Separately, International Airlines Group’s low cost, long-haul division Level ordered another two A330-200s for around $477 million and for delivery in 2019.
The European airframer also won new narrowbody business. Japanese low-cost carrier Peach Aviation purchased a pair of A321LRs for around $260 million. These two aircraft will be upgrades from a batch of 10 A321 Neos covered by a 2016 purchase agreement.
In the engine sector, CFM International announced around $880 million worth of new support business with contracts from Comair, Starlux, and Loong Air. Rolls-Royce sealed a support deal with Philippine Airlines for Trent XWB powerplant on its A350XWBs. Pratt & Whitney booked an order from China Southern Airlines to supply the APS3200 auxiliary power unit for 104 new A320s.
