[Turbopilot]

A more concise article from TheStreet.com can be found here.

There is some question as to what Airbus calls a "firm order" as opposed to a commitment, and whether they use the same standards as Boeing. For example, Airbus counted their sale of 150 A32x aircraft to China as a firm order for December, but Boeing did not count their deal to sell 70 737s to China, made at the same time, as a firm 2005 order. John Leahy, Airbus' top salesman, also has some credibility issues with regards to some of his public statements.

Nevertheless, 1,111 airplanes is an enormous number, especially given that Boeing also sold over 1,000. Each manufacturer roughly tripled their 2004 sales and blew away their respective prior sales records.

[in hoc signo vinces]

Considering Airbus is consortium subsidized by nation states...I take it as a win by BOEING.

Plus, as you postulate, Airbus's numbers are probably bogus.

[nickcarraway]

Doesn't some analyst have an apples-to-apples comparison?

[BigSkyFreeper]

I see Boeing moving ahead of Airbus in the near future. They have another new jet in the pipe, almost ready for "prime time", and Air India is just one airline that has expressed interest in the new jet.

Boeing has a lock on the large, growing, lucrative Asian market.

[flashbunny]

Everytime I see an airbus announcement, it's for some country or company saying they really sorta kinda are definately going to buy an airbus sometime in the next five years.

When I see boeing announcements, they are firm planned sales.

[DTogo]

And of both companies' sales, which will actually deilver the most planes on time?

[DuncanWaring]

Sounds like the way Democrats count votes.

[CWOJackson]

Prior to WWII transcontinental flight was dominated by the flying boat. At the time there were very few airports (but lots of water) and the state of aviation technology hadn't sufficiently progressed. This all changed with WWII; airports sprung up around the world and regular aircraft now had the range and capacity to make transcontinental flight a reality. The day of the flying boats was over.

It is important to remember that following WWII, France set out to assert itself as a leader in the field of aviation again. It did this by building the largest, most impressive flying boats ever built for passenger service.

That spirit lives on with the Airbus 380. The only question remains is if Airbus will survive the 380.

[winner3000]

I wonder whether Airbus has to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. If only Boeing does, I trust their numbers more.

[NavyCanDo]

But when it comes to the profit makers (the bigger twin isles) Boeing far outpaces Airbus for the year.

[RayChuang88]

There's one thing that Airbus has to start realizing: selling A320 Family planes won't pay for the already huge (quite literally!) development costs for the A380 superjumbo and the potentially large costs for the A350 long-range twin-aisle widebody jet. Are European taxpayers willing to shell out €20 billion plus to defray the cost of both programs?

[boris]

Airbus makes damned fine airplanes...as long as the tail fins stay on.

[COEXERJ145]

There is some question as to what Airbus calls a "firm order" as opposed to a commitment, and whether they use the same standards as Boeing.

With Airbus an order is everything. Firm order, option, reconfirmable option, MOU (Memorandum of Understanding which simply means a promise to officially order some planes on a later date) and sometimes even canceled orders that have not been officially canceled.

With Boeing, an order is where a deposit has been or will soon be put down on a set number of aircraft.

[Jorge]

John Leahy, Airbus' top salesman, also has some credibility issues with regards to some of his public statements.

I agree.
Funny Boeing was well ahead of Airbus all year in firm orders, and stole the spot-light winning nearly all the highly contested orders at Paris and elsewhere...and suddenly Airbus discovers hundreds of orders in January to announce they outsold Boeing for 2005.

I find it this rather suspect.

In any case Boeing is making more money selling the larger jets, even if Airbus sells a larger number of small jets.

The big stories of 2005 are still the 777 killing the A340 in sales and the 787 Dreamliner racking up record orders.

[Righty_McRight]

I think Boeing only counts orders where a contract has been signed.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

but Boeing did not count their deal to sell 70 737s to China, made at the same time, as a firm 2005 order

Actually, they did, at least 50 of them. However, in a vain effort to gin up some publicity stunt like this, they pulled 150 orders out of 2006 and it has come across looking like a cheap tactic. That taints the so-called record and in any case, everyone acknowledges that Boeing got the best of the order value.

[VOA]

bump

[brewcrew]

November 7, 2006 MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FedEx Express, a unit of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), announced today an agreement with The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) to acquire 15 new Boeing 777 Freighter aircraft with options to purchase an additional 15 aircraft. The decision to purchase the 777F was made after Airbus announced significant delays in delivery of the A380. FedEx Express notified Airbus that it has cancelled its order for 10 A380-800Fs.