Airbus, Boeing split firm orders on Paris Air Show’s third day

The big order announcements from commercial airplane rivals Airbus and Boeing tailed off on Wednesday, the third day of the Paris Air Show.

The two jetliner giants announced an equal number of firm orders

Airbus said Vietnamese airline VietJetAir placed a firm order for six A321s while Boeing said Ethiopian Airways placed a firm order for six 787-8 Dreamliners.

Among the aircraft order commitment announcements, Airbus led the day, announcing that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with an “Asia-based airline” for 60 A320neo Family jets. Airbus did not identify the exact name of the carrier.

Boeing said it signed a memorandum with the Volga-Dnepr Group, a freight carrier, for 20 more 747-8 Freighters, in a deal worth $7.4 billion at list prices.

“If this ends up being converted into a firm order, it would be a real help for this program, where further rate cuts have been looming,” RBC Europe analyst Robert Stallard wrote about the 747-8 commitment, in a research note to investors on Wednesday afternoon.

While there is one day left to the trade – or business – portion of the seven-day show (Friday through Sunday the show converts to a public event), it’s likely that the biggest order announcements for commercial jetliners have already been made.

Stallard wrote that Boeing and Airbus ended the third day in a “dead heat.”

“Both Airbus and Boeing have logged 154 firm orders apiece at this point,” he wrote.

Memorandums and letters of intent to purchase aircraft have accounted for 54 percent of total aircraft order announcements at the show, he added.

The business underway at the Paris Air Show is important to Wichita, where Airbus operates a engineering center and Boeing accounts for a significant amount of manufacturing work for numerous area suppliers, including Spirit AeroSystems.

Spirit, in addition to building large parts of all Boeing airplanes, also makes parts for Airbus’ A320, A350XWB and A380 airliners.

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Airbus, Boeing split firm orders on Paris Air Show’s third day."