FIA2024: The Final Aircraft Order Roundup

DALLAS — With the 2024 Farnborough Airshow all wrapped up, those with products to sell came away with enough to be content.

The competition between Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, and ATR resulted in the following order numbers: Airbus: 138, Boeing: 118, ATR: 4, and Embraer: 0.

£81 billion worth of deals were signed across the civilian and defense sectors. Here’s a roundup of what the big players achieved throughout the airshow.

Day 1

Boeing

Boeing stole the show at Farnborough on day one, collecting four 777F orders from National Airlines (N8), the global logistics airline's first new aircraft order. Korean Air (KE) would also go with Boeing, ordering 20 777-9X and 20 787-10s, with options for an additional 10.

Japan Airlines (JL) also requested ten additional Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.Moving to narrow-body aircraft, Luxair (LG) requested four 737 MAX 10s to supplement its 737-8s and 7s.

De Havilland Canada

De Havilland Canada would not leave the day empty-handed, with four orders for their Certified Refurbished Q400 program. These orders came from the Tanzania Government Flight Agency, Widerøe (WF), and Skyward Express (OW), with them taking one, two, and one examples, respectively.

Staying with the Q400, Advantage Air Travel ordered a single Q400QC, or “Quick Change” variant, providing flexibility between passenger and freight operations.

Airbus

Day one left Airbus trailing joint last, with a single Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for three A320NEOs and two A321XLRs from Bhutanese carrier Druk Air (KB). This signals the first truly long-haul capability of any Bhutanese airline.

Day 2

Day two was very much Airbus’. Early in the day, the European manufacturer made a deal with Virgin Atlantic (VS) for seven additional a330-900NEOs, adding to their initial order of 14. Their total now stands at 23 units ordered, with five delivered.

Japan Airlines (JL) opted for narrow and wide-bodies, taking 20 A350-900s and 11 A321NEOs, their first-ever Airbus narrow-body order.

Berniq Airways (NB), a new startup from Libya, opted to take six A320NEOs as its first order for an aircraft.

Boeing

Boeing’s orders were decisively slower on day two, with them taking two orders, but for a not inconsiderable 40 planes, split evenly between Qatar Airways (QR) and Macquarie AirFinance for 20 777-9Xs and 20 737-8s, respectively.

De Havilland Canada

DHC firmed an order for six DHC-6 Twin Otters with SATENA (9R) for its expanding Colombian network.

Embraer

Embraer scored no orders but held a major press conference in which it revealed many upgrades to its E2 family of aircraft, including a range increase of up to 2,950nm and 3,000nm, respectively, between its E190E2 and 195E2 aircraft. This is achieved by reducing the amount of air bled into the cabin, thereby increasing thrust and efficiency by 2.5%.

In addition, they planned to implement an autonomous takeoff system designed to select an optimal rate of climb to optimize fuel burn. This is the first time this will be implemented commercially and available by 2028.

Day 3

Orders slowed down greatly on day three of the show. However, deals were still struck

ATR

ATR scored an order from Air Tahiti (VT) for four ATR 72-600s to be delivered in 2025. This is a repeat order, with the airline already flying ten ATR 72-600s and two ATR 42-600s. However, this shows that the type is well suited to extreme environments such as the South Pacific.

KLM, ZeroAvia

KLM (KL) and ZeroAvia struck a deal to mature the technologies in the ZA2000 zero-emissions engine so that they are suitable for larger turboprops. Initial renders of the engine show it on an ATR 72. The technology is likely viable for a 200+ seat airliner with a range of 5,000nm by 2040.

Day 4

Outside the show, but during its progression, Airbus’s momentum continued to roll, with an MoU from Flynas (XY) for a mammoth 75 A320NEOs and 15 A330-900NEOs.

In addition to Flynas (XY), Abra Group, the majority shareholder of Avianca (AV) and Gol (G3) airlines, also signed an MoU for five A350-900s. Many have suggested that these aircraft will be destined for AV; however, nothing is confirmed as of yet.

Many parties have emerged victorious from the Farnborough Airshow 2024, with Airbus receiving the most orders during the event. Boeing also gained traction, demonstrating that airlines remain confident in the duopoly.