Airbus trounces Boeing at Dubai Air Show

Airbus has trounced its bitter rival Boeing at the Dubai Air Show by received five times more orders by value.

The European plane maker received US$5.3bn in orders and letters of intent, against two orders worth US$800m from Boeing.

However sales were down dramatically from the last time the biannual show was held in 2007, when they received a combined order worth US$75bn.

Organisers said this year’s show had a total of $13bn in orders so far, less than a 10th of the $155bn of deals inked with all manufacturers at the 2007 show.

Airbus chief operating officer John Leahy said: “We had a good air show, better than many expected.”

“Our industry is not out of the woods yet. There will be a difficult winter ahead of us,” he added.  “But with the deals we made in Dubai and the interest in our products that we saw here, spring may not be that far away.”

Ethiopian Airlines placed an order for 12 Airbus A350-900s worth $2.9bn, as well as sales of two A380 super-jumbos.

Boeing announced deals for 11 737-800 jetliners to Air Algerie and Tassili Airlines.