Boeing gets first Paris Air Show order

updated 10:19 a.m. ET June 17, 2009

LE BOURGET, France - Boeing Co. scored its first jet order in a small but symbolic breakthrough Wednesday at the Paris Air Show, yet remained well behind rival Airbus in the race to sell planes to cash-strapped airlines and governments.

With commercial orders scarce, American defense contractors elbowed into the troubled market for European military transport planes at the world's biggest air show. The salon at Le Bourget has also been haunted by unresolved questions about the crash of Air France Flight 447.

Boeing won an order for two of its updated 737-800 jets from aircraft leasing company MC Aviation Partners, worth $153 million at list prices. MC Aviation Partners is a unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.

The 737-800 is a short-to-medium range, single-aisle aircraft that seats up to 189 passengers. It competes with the Airbus A320, which has won dozens of orders at the air show as Boeing struggled to woo buyers.

So far, Airbus has made more than $6.2 billion in sales of 57 aircraft at the air show, largely from Asian and low-cost airlines defying worries about global recession. That is still well below the order tally in recent years.

The Philippines-based Zest Airways Inc. placed a firm order for a new single-aisle Airbus A320 on Wednesday to further its quest to expand across Southeast Asia. The list price of the jet is about $76 million, though airlines often negotiate discounts, especially in difficult economic times.

French regional airline Aigle Azur ordered one A319 on Wednesday, its first direct purchase from Airbus. Aigle Azur serves northern Africa and cities in France. The list price for the plane is about $70 million.

On Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur low-cost airline Air Asia ordered 10 A350-900 jets and placed options for five more. The list price for the 10 jets would be $2.4 billion. Vietnam Airlines ordered 16 Airbus A321 single-aisle jets worth $1.4 billion and pledged to buy two more A350-XWB planes.

Boeing shrugged off the Airbus announcements, saying the company doesn't save up orders to announce at air shows.

Airbus is suffering on the defense front, however.

As delays mount for Airbus' troubled new A400M military transport airlifter, Lockheed-Martin and Boeing are offering their proven C-130J and C-17 models as alternatives to the European air forces who are in urgent need of a new transport.

"The situation is that many countries in Europe are looking at their airlift requirements and they need to make decisions in the short term," Peter Simmons, spokesman for Lockheed's Air Mobility division, said Wednesday. "We have been approached by a number of countries in Europe to fulfill that role."

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