Airbus finally bags a deal for mainstay jet after lackuster expo

The first all-new order for Airbus’ mainstay A320 jet of this week’s Farnborough International Airshow was distinctly lacking in the hoopla that usually accompanies deals unveiled at the world’s leading aviation expo. The $2b transaction from Latam Airlines Group of Chile was communicated by email at 8 a.m. in the UK, when most show delegates were still at their hotels. Airbus’s slim order haul and publicity restraint contrasts with previous shows, where the European manufacturer made a big splash with commercial announcements to a packed audience, often in rapid succession. Management relished the closing press conference, where executives needled the US competition and touted their wins before heading back to Toulouse with a bulging order book. This time round, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and his sales chief, Christian Scherer, had left the event even before the final day and Airbus confirmed Thursday that it would hold no formal closing media conference. The duo’s early exit came amid a dearth of orders for the European planemaker and as rival Boeing trotted out a raft of deals including three-figure sales for its 737 Max narrowbody, which competes with the A320neo. Agency Partners analyst Nick Cunningham said that, overall, the order haul from an event so keenly anticipated after a long-time absence of such gatherings due to the coronavirus crisis has been “pretty modest” by historical standards. Boeing “did a little better than expected,” he said, even as it grapples with glitches with the 787 Dreamliner and years of delays to the 777X.<br/>