Airbus concedes defeat to Boeing in aircraft order race at Paris

The European planemaker said it had won 326 net new orders and commitments against its estimate of the comparable Boeing tally of 443

An Airbus signage is pictured at the new Airbus Asia Training Centre in Singapore April 18, 2016. | Reuters

PARIS: Airbus conceded defeat to arch-rival Boeing at the Paris Airshow on Thursday as a last-minute haul of almost 100 orders, including new interest from Iran, failed to close a gap opened up by the launch of Boeing's new 737 model.

The European planemaker said it had won 326 net new orders and commitments against its estimate of the comparable Boeing tally of 443, excluding conversions from other models to support the launch of its new Boeing 737 MAX 10.

Based on firm new orders, Airbus said it was a tie.

"Is this a slower show than previous years? Yes, it is. Are we conceding that Boeing sold a few more airplanes than we did? Yes," said Airbus sales chief John Leahy.

Leahy said he had expected the new Boeing plane to make more of a splash.

"The only negative thing I would see is that we had expected they would have had a bigger launch on the 737 MAX 10, not quite as many conversions, more incremental orders."