Commercial Aircraft Makers See Orders Slump At Paris Airshow

Two big commercial aircraft manufacturers saw airshow-related orders drop 20 percent this year, an analyst said Monday.

Boeing Co BA and AIRBUS GROUP EADSY posted combined orders stemming from the Paris Airshow of $107 billion, versus $137 billion at last year's Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England. The two events are held in alternating years.

Boeing picked up 309 orders totaling $50.2 billion in Paris, while Airbus' total amounted to 421 orders worth $56.8 billion, according to D.A. Davidson's J.B. Groh.

Analyst Talk

"Our top ideas remain unchanged," Groh said, listing cabin interior products supplier B/E Aerospace Inc BEAV and Astronics Corporation ATRO, which provides aviation systems and components.

"Both should benefit from increased airline profitability and the record levels of industry backlog," Groh said of the two companies, each rated at Buy with targets of $75 and $89 respectively.

The Paris Show

The single largest order at the Paris show went to Airbus, from the Hungarian Airline Wizz Air at $13.7 billion for 110 A321neos aircraft.

Delivery to Wizz will start in 2019 and continue through 2024, according to Groh.

Also at the show, Indonesian carrier Garuda Airlines ordered 60 aircraft from Boeing and 30 from Airbus, with a combined value of $20 billion.

Looking Ahead

Boeing is considering a new aircraft design that won't come into service for about 10 years, according to Groh.

The prospective Boeing aircraft, dubbed MOM for "middle of the market, is to fill the role of the discontinued 757. The new design would fall somewhere in between the current 737 and 787 in terms of size, capacity and range, Groh said.

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