Twenty-four hours after the Boeing Co. pushed back deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner, rival Airbus booked a $7 billion order for 61 jets.
Grupo Marsans, a Spanish tourism group, inked a tentative deal for 10 A350s and four A380s, five A330s and 42 A320s.
“We are extremely honored by this important vote of confidence from Grupo Marsans,” said John Leahy, Airbus’s chief operating officer, in a press release. “We are very proud of the selection of the A320 Family, the A350 XWB and the A380 by Grupo Marsans which, as we all know, control Aerolineas Argentinas, Air Comet and several other airlines in Europe and South America.”
Airbus also roped in an order Wednesday from Wizz Air, a low cost European carrier, for 50 A320s, according to an Airbus press release.
Dreamliner Delay
Despite its six-month delay in the Dreamliner program, Boeing may have some good news on the horizon.
Emirates could place a 100-plane order, worth $16 billion, next month at the Dubai Air Show, according to Bloomberg.
Tim Clark, Emirates’ president, said the carrier continues to look at both Airbus’s A350 and Boeing’s 787.
“All our studies were based on the fact that this airplane would be delayed into service,” Clark said. “But unlike the A380 delay, when we were at the front end of the order stream, this delay really has no bearing on us.”
More responses from 787 customers continue to trickle in:
Boeing told Qantas that it should still get all 15 787s by the end of 2009, reports The Australian News. Qantas’s chief financial officer Peter Gregg said that even if the airline won’t be hit by the full six-month delay it may still seek compensation.
“If we’re entitled to it, we’ll be asking for it,” Mr Gregg said.
Chinese airlines believe the Dreamliner delay will have limited impact. UBS analyst Damien Horth was quoted in this Dow Jones report as saying the delay would be “more of an inconvenience than a fundamental issue to Chinese airlines.”
Northwest Airlines wanted to use its 787 on the new routes to China that the Minnesota-based carrier recently won.
Neal Cohen, Northwest’s executive vice president, told the Star Tribune that it’s unclear whether the carrier will receive its planes by early 2009 when its Detroit-Shanghai route begins.
Still, Cohen said, “We remain very excited that the 787 will still be a game changer.”
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