UPDATED: Airbus "close" to Boeing’s 1,413 orders

Published 10:40 am Friday, January 4, 2008

UPDATE: Airbus says its 2007 orders tally is “very close” to Boeing’s and is at record levels, according to a story out of Paris this morning. We’ll have to wait until Jan. 16 for Airbus’s final sales numbers.

The Boeing Co. topped 1,400 commercial jet orders in 2007, breaking its sales record for the third year in a row. The company won 1,423 gross orders — 1,413 net orders.

Here’s a breakdown of Boeing’s net orders for last year:

737: 846

747: 21

767: 36

777: 141

787: 369

total: 1,413

In its press release, Boeing noted that it reached several milestones in 2007, including reaching the 800-order mark for the 787, hitting the 1,500 order mark for the 747, and the 1,000-order mark for the 767. What’s really interesting about those numbers is that the 787 hasn’t even entered service yet and it trails the 767 in orders by only a few hundred.

While analysts and Boeing executives predict a downturn in 2008, Boeing has a healthy backlog, now over 3,400 unfilled orders, to keep workers in the Puget Sound region busy for years.

You can read my stories on Boeing’s 2007 orders or Boeing’s 2007 deliveries for more information.