Indicating a huge growth potential for the aviation sector, world’s two top aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus today announced total orders worth $107 billion at this week’s International Air Show here, including firm orders worth about $35 billion.
However, Indian airlines were conspicuous by their absence from the huge tally of companies placing initial and firm orders, even as both Boeing and Airbus said they see huge potential for the Indian aviation sector and the growth rate there was expected to be among the fastest across the world.
Boeing said it won orders and commitments for 331 aircraft worth $50.2 billion this week at the Air Show at le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, which opens for general public tomorrow.This includes firm orders for 145 aircraft worth $18.6 billion and the rest are the commitment or the orders that have already been in the order book but whose buyer airlines were not disclosed earlier.
Airbus announced firm orders for 124 aircraft worth $16.3 billion and commitment for 297 aircraft worth $40.7 billion at the show. It also managed to win a last-minute order for 110 plans from Europe’s low cost carrier Wizz Air.“We had again a very successful Paris Airshow, we received orders and commitments for 421 aircraft worth $57 billion,” Airbus Group’s plane-making division CEO Fabrice Bregier told reporters here.
Airbus India MD Srinivasan Dwarkanath told PTI that Indian market would continue to see significant growth rate, which would be among the highest in the world.Similar views were expressed by Boeing’s Dinesh Keskar, who said that airlines in India have already begun making profits and the coming quarters could be much better for them.