An Airbus A330-323 aircraft, operated by Delta Air Lines.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Airbus kicked off the 2021 Dubai Air Show with a bang, landing massive deals from day one.
The French aerospace manufacturer had amassed 408 announced orders and commitments by the end of the show’s fourth day, Wednesday, while its American counterpart Boeing trailed with 101. Airbus and Boeing are the world’s two largest aerospace companies by revenue.
The order numbers so far from the first major air show since the Covid-19 pandemic began are a positive sign for aviation and travel, which suffered devastating losses for much of the last 18 months. “We view orders for new aircraft as positive for the recovery of the commercial aerospace industry,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note Wednesday.
Airbus scored its first big win on day one of the air show, with an order for 255 of its narrow-body A321neo and A321XLR jets from American private equity firm Indigo Partners, which buys planes for low-cost carriers like Frontier, Wizz Air, Jetsmart and Volaris.
It then notched a letter of intent from Air Lease Corp, set to be finalized in the coming months, for 111 aircraft across the Airbus product range: 55 A321neos, 25 A220-300s, 20 A321XLRs, seven A350F freighters and four A330neos.
The deal from Indigo Partners, the first major aircraft order since the pandemic began, was a “very positive signal that we [are starting] to be on the front foot again,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told CNBC during the show.
Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways committed to 28 Airbus A321neos, and Nigeria’s Ibom Air committed to its first Airbus purchase with an order for 10 A220s.
The popularity of narrow-body jets at this year’s air show came as a surprise to some analysts, who say the Middle East event is more known for orders of wide-body planes used for longer-haul flights.
On the military side, Airbus also sold two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports, an aerial refueling…