Print edition: 
FARNBOROUGH, England — Planemakers notched up orders worth more than $28 billion at the Farnborough International Airshow by the close of the event's third day, underscoring a revival in commercial aviation even as budget cuts keep the defense sector in the doldrums.
New deals announced Wednesday included orders for Airbus jets from Berlin-based airline Germania and Indonesian national carrier Garuda, while Middle Eastern airline Qatar agreed to a deal with Boeing to take earlier delivery of the U.S. company's fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.
"Air travel demand is continuing to rise in the Middle East and it is becoming clear that international demand is returning as the global economy shows signs of recovery," Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said at Farnborough.
Orders at the show are well off the record-breaking $88.7 billion worth of deals announced at Farnborough in 2008, but the gathering has already exceeded the slow orders for commercial planes of around $7 billion at sister show Le Bourget, near Paris, last year.
Among the big buyers at the industry's premier event were two plane leasing companies that have only been created in recent months. New leasing company Air Lease Corp. has so far signed the biggest deals, dividing orders for 115 planes worth $8.6 billion between Boeing, Airbus and French-Italian regional turboprop manufacturer ATR.
Garuda CEO Emirsyah Satar said the airline planned to use its purchase of six long-range A330-200s, worth $1.1 billion at catalog prices, to expand its new premium service "to more international destinations in a profitable and efficient way."
Germania signed a contract for five Airbus A319s, valued at $372 million at list prices. The deal is the airline's first with Airbus, marking a win for the European company over rival Boeing as Germania starts a complete fleet rollover to more- efficient Airbus A319s.
EADS-owned Airbus also announced an agreement with Thai Airways to buy seven A330-300s worth $1.48 billion at catalog prices.
Boeing confirmed deals with Air Austral, a French airline based on the island of Reunion, and with Qatar for two long-range 777-220 aircraft each. Both deals, worth just over $1 billion at list prices, had already been on the planemaker's books, but the names of the buyers had not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, Bombardier said Australian carrier Qantas Airways ordered seven Q400 turboprop airliners, worth $218 million at list prices.
But the Montreal-based company has so far failed to line up an order for its much-touted C-series, which it is marketing as a fuel-efficient alternative to the current offerings from the Boeing-Airbus duopoly.
Boeing has notched up a number of sales for its fuel-efficient 787 jetliner, which is making its international debut at Farnborough after a problem-plagued production line delayed the delivery schedule. The first 787 is due to be handed to Japan's ANA later this year, more than two years overdue, and Boeing has said that could slip into the first few weeks of 2011.
After making its international debut at Farnborough, the 787 stopped business at Farnborough on Tuesday when it was given a send-off by two World War II-vintage Spitfire fighter planes Tuesday as it made its journey back to Seattle.
