Aircraft

By David Kaminski-Morrow in London

Boeing secured orders for 493 aircraft over the first half of this year, four times the number recorded by European rival Airbus over the same period.

The US airframer has already disclosed that it delivered 195 aircraft in the first six months of 2006 against Airbus’s 219.

Boeing’s first-half figures list gross orders for 384 Boeing 737s – including an order from an unidentified customer, placed at the end of June, for 30 examples of the new 737-900ER, nearly doubling the total for the type to 63.

Indonesia’s Lion Air launched the 737-900ER last year with an order for 30 and, at the time, placed options for another 30 of the type.

Boeing’s widebody orders for the first half totalled 109 aircraft, comprising 72 787s, plus 26 777s and 11 747s.

Airbus revealed earlier this month that it had gained orders for 117 aircraft over the first six months of this year. Conclusions from the two manufacturers’ figures are difficult to draw because both sides are expected to detail high-profile orders at the UK’s Farnborough air show this month.