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Firms Rack Up More than $13b So Far

DUBAI — With one day left to go at the Dubai Airshow, aviation companies have booked orders and taken commitments for planes, equipment and services worth a total of more than $13 billion, the show’s organisers said 
on Wednesday.

The latest business was a pledge by start-up carrier Senegal Airlines to buy six jetliners from Europe’s Airbus SAS. The four narrow-body Airbus A320s and two twin-aisle A330s have a list-price value of $670 million, Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon said.

Senegal Airlines and Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding for the aircraft, and Airbus expects the African carrier to place a firm order within two months, Dubon
 told Khaleej Times.

This latest commitment raises to $5.3 billion the total amount of firm contracts and commitments that Airbus had received by the end of the fourth day of the five-day air show. The event ends today.

Airbus has booked $3.6 billion in firm orders, including the sale of 12 long-haul A350 XWBs to Ethiopian Airlines. The remaining $1.7 billion in business for Airbus includes purchase commitments from carriers in Yemen and Nepal, as well as the six jets that Senegal Airlines has pledged to buy.

Airbus rival Boeing Co. has had significantly less success at this week’s show. The US plane-maker announced on Tuesday that two Algerian airlines had agreed to buy 11 single-aisle 737 aircraft worth $847 million.

The other big piece of business announced at the show has come from the UAE Armed Forces – Dh2.7 billion ($736 million) in contracts for trainer planes and airborne
 surveillance systems.

Makers of engines and equipment, together with firms that repair and service aircraft, have also garnered billions of dollars in business.

The four-day total of more than $13 billion in sales and commitments is a small fraction of the $155 billion in total deals that participants did at the last Dubai Airshow in 2007.

However, few companies were expecting to rack up huge orders this time. The global economy went into drastic decline last year, causing severe problems for the airline industry. This downturn persists. While some airlines are seeing signs of a fragile recovery, the giddy optimism rampant in the industry two years ago has vanished.

Carriers in the Middle East have been among the world’s most aggressive in terms of expansion, but the biggest of them — Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways — had already placed jumbo orders for new planes before the Dubai Airshow. The three regional heavyweights have shown scant desire to buy any more aircraft here this week.

“We had a good air show — better than many expected. But our industry is not out of the woods yet,” Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy said in a statement on Wednesday. By the time Airbus issued the statement, Leahy had already departed both the show and Dubai.

For Airbus and other suppliers, new carriers such as Senegal Airlines offer some of their best cause for hope.

Dubon, the Airbus spokesman, said his company believes that the Senegal Airlines pledge to buy six aircraft marks “a beginning of long-term relations” between them. The operational efficiency and comfort offered by the A320 and A330 should help Senegal Airlines grow into “a major player in the African aviation market,” added Karim Wade, Senegal’s senior state minister of international cooperation, urban and regional planning, infrastructure and air transport.

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

bruce@khaleejtimes.com