The world’s biggest air show continued yesterday with European plane maker Airbus expected to book more orders, including an anticipated deal with Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways.
Boeing was also scheduled to deliver an update on the status of its 787 jetliner on the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow.
The 787, touted by Boeing for its greater fuel-efficiency potential since it’s the first large jetliner to be built mostly from lighter, carbon-fiber composites, has been hampered by delays that have cost the Chicago-based company credibility and billions of dollars in expected additional costs and penalties.
Airlines from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have so far saved the air show from an otherwise lackluster start, signing orders for around 150 planes worth more than US$25 billion on Monday.
With many European and US airlines expected to refrain from inking big deals as they cope with rocketing fuel prices and dampening passenger demand from the credit crunch, Middle Eastern carriers with the benefit of oil-backed sovereign wealth funds have stepped into the breach.
The biggest deal so far came from Etihad Airways, which split an order for 100 aircraft between Airbus and Boeing worth US$20 billion at list prices. The deal comprised 55 Airbus planes worth US$11 billion at list prices and 45 Boeing planes worth US$9 billion.
The recently launched low-cost airline FlyDubai also used the biennial show — it alternates with an event in Le Bourget in France — to announce an order for 50 Boeing planes worth around US$3.74 billion.
In a smaller deal, Saudi Arabian Airlines signed a contract with Airbus for eight planes worth US$1.6 billion.
At the Paris air show last year, 506 orders were taken between Airbus and Boeing. Credit Suisse said it expected around 200 to 300 orders to be announced at Farnborough.
Airbus chief salesman John Leahy said he would be disappointed if the firm didn’t book orders for 200 planes this week.
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing’s Seattle-based commercial airplanes unit said on Monday that Boeing had not received any cancelations, although “a handful” of customers had asked to delay their purchase.
Almost 1,500 exhibitors from 35 countries are showing off the latest in aviation technology at Farnborough.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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