Posted on 09/21/2006 2:13:00 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) announced new orders for 47 planes from unidentified buyers on Thursday, worth more than $4 billion overall, including 16 for its new carbon and titanium 787 Dreamliner.
The order pushes the U.S. planemaker's tally to 632 firm orders so far this year, well ahead of European rival Airbus (EAD.PA), which has confirmed only 222 firm orders this year, but picked up a prestigious 35 plane order from German carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) on Wednesday.
On its online order book, Boeing on Thursday noted new orders for 16 of the mid-sized, twin-aisled 787s, which are due to enter service in 2008.
It added 30 new orders for its best-selling single-aisle 737, the work horse for many domestic airlines worldwide, and one new order for a Boeing Business Jet, which is an adapted 737. It did not identify any of the buyers.
The sharp increase means Boeing is still on track to beat Airbus in terms of annual orders for the first time since 2000. Few think this year's total of Boeing and Airbus orders will top last year's record of 2,057, but a number of important airlines are expected to place large orders before the year's end, including Dubai-based Emirates Airlines (EMAIR.UL) and Russia's Aeroflot (AFLT.MM).
Boeing has delivered 258 planes this year, trailing Airbus, which has flown 283 planes to customers so far this year, according to its latest update.
More like the EU strong-armed Luftansa to order those planes.
SO? Do you think an Airbus partner country would buy Boeing? Prestigious? I'd take nearly 50 planes in an order over a "prestigious" 35 plane order any day of the week.
The Euros are having a tough go of it. It has to friggin be Bush's fault. No two ways about it.
Generally, all big airlines fly all makes of planes. It's the smaller, regional types that limit themselves to one or the other to save on maintenance.
The dollar being down against the euro can't be helping Airbus either.
So....where does that leave Southwest and jetBlue ???
I place Southwest and jetBlue into the latter category. Southwest is a decent-sized airline, but it doesn't fly internationally.
I can order a Dreamliner online??!!......Where's my Discover card???
So is Airbus actually making a profit or is jetliner manufacturing still just a hobby for them?
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