Nobody walked away empty handed, but who came out on top?

Nobody walked away empty-handed, but who came out on top? Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

As the dust settles on the first Farnborough Airshow in four years, we reflect on the ubiquitous post-airshow question – in the battle of Boeing and Airbus, who won this time?

Without doubt, Boeing had an excellent Farnborough Airshow. The planemaker walked away with 192 firm orders for commercial passenger jets, plus an MoU from Azerbaijan Airlines for four more 787-8 widebodies. Boeing is yet to update its orders and deliveries report for July, but when it does, its 2022 firm order tally will have grown by 67% to 478 airplanes.

Notable was the strength of confidence in the 737 MAX family. An incredible 95% of the Farnborough Airshow orders for Boeing were for the MAX, with almost two thirds from the yet-to-be-certified 737 MAX 10 alone (much aided by the significant order from Delta Air Lines on day one of the show).

But the MAX 8 put in a good showing as well, with Qatar and ANA firming up deals for the type, and the powerful 777 Partners adding 30 firm aircraft to the order book. The 777 Partners deal was notable in that it included the MAX 8-200, the high-density version created for Ryanair that is starting to become popular in the ultra-low-cost marketplace.

The investors currently sport two airlines – Flair in Canada and Bonza in Australia – but indicated that the family is set to grow exponentially, and that they could be back for more MAXs in the years to come.

Of course, it wasn’t only the MAX that made a showing at the event. Nine Dreamliners were signed for, five firm and four under a MoU from Azerbaijan Airlines. This is despite the widebody still not being delivered from Boeing’s factory, and the market for new widebodies still showing signs of depression.

Aside from the passenger jets, Boeing also sold four more 767-300 BCF, three 737-800 BCF and received a conversion from ANA for two passenger 777-9s to the new 777-8 freighter. Various other MRO, software and services deals were signed, keeping Boeing very busy at the airshow.

Airbus had a much quieter time at Farnborough. While Delta increased its share of the A220 space with a commitment for an additional 20 A220-300s, the only other real order was from LATAM, which would see the airline adding 17 more A321neos. The order book was bolstered by the approval of easyJet shareholders for an additional 56 A320neo family jets, but as this was announced well before Farnbrough Airshow, it wasn’t truly an airshow order.

The European planemaker spent much of its time flashing its green credentials to the press. Projects like the Blue Condor, which will see it gathering data from hydrogen engine emissions, and the CFM Open Rotor technology announcement made for some very interesting briefings. But on the face of it, Airbus was somewhat smoked by Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow

But let’s be realistic here. Airbus went into the Airshow well ahead of its rival. Compared with Boeing’s 286 gross orders year to date, Airbus was in front with 442 gross orders by the end of June. Adding the Airshow deals to these figures puts Boeing ahead, but not by much.

Bearing in mind that the easyJet deal was already included in June’s figures, Airbus will add just 29 planes to its books when the show figures are included. Boeing will add a substantial 196, giving it a total of 482 year-to-date versus Airbus’ 471. That lead of 11 planes is set to be really quite short lived.

Take, for a start, the post-Farnborough order from German leisure airline Condor. That will see more A320neo airplanes added to Airbus’ order book, although it’s not yet clear how many will be purchased by the airline and how many will be leased to it. Whether that deal is firm enough to be included on July’s figures remains to be seen.

Then, of course, there’s the huge 292 plane order snagged by Airbus from Chinese airlines just before Farnborough Airshow. If and when those deals are firmed up later in the year, it will put Boeing very much on the back foot in terms of 2022s total orders.

Did Boeing win the Farnborough Airshow for you? What’s in store for the rest of the year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Managing Editor -  Joanna has worked in publishing for more than a decade and is fast becoming a go-to source for commercial aviation analysis. Providing commentary for outlets including the BBC, CNBC, Reuters Thomson and others, she works closely with IATA, AviaDev and various airlines and suppliers to get the inside track on the global marketplace.