Airbus pipped rivals Boeing in the battle of the aircraft at the Paris Air Show after amassing nearly $70bn of orders.
Airbus received orders for 466 aircraft at a list price of $69 billion — which included 59 orders for the A350 from Singapore Airlines and Air France-KLM.
Boeing booked orders for 442 aircraft valued at some $66 billion, including 102 orders for its new 787-10, which announced the aircraft for a 2018 release.
British Airways were also announced as the European launch customer for the Dreamliner aircraft, with other launch customers including United for North America, and Singapore Airlines for Asia.
Boeing said the week’s orders is not a reflection on its annual results, and point towards both companies results for April and May as a more realistic reflection.
It added it continually announces orders all year round and doesn’t hold them back for specific events.
In a war of words, Airbus sales chief John Leahy dismissed the Dreamliner 777-10 as a “paper plane” and said his company’s A350-1000 was being sold with firm guarantees on performance.
Leahy also said he doubted whether Boeing’s plane design would work in the marketplace.
“We doubt that Boeing is going to build the airplane as you see it today. It’s a paper airplane,” he said.
Boeing spokesman Charlie Miller responded to Mr Leahy’s comments: “He labelled the 787 a paper plane. He was wrong about the 787, and Airbus has spent seven years and billions of euros to play catch-up.”
