Eclipse Aerospace took commitments for five Total Eclipse light jets at the Dubai Air Show as the UAE certified the finished version of the Eclipse 500. Eclipse announced it would start taking orders for the updated version of the Eclipse 500 at NBAA in October and said resumption of production (subassemblies in Poland, final assembly in Albuquerque) would depend on sales. Eclipse’s order came against a backdrop of blockbuster deals in which billions of dollars was committed for hundreds of airplanes.
Boeing took the largest order in its history when Emirates Air, one of its best customers, inked a deal for 50 777-300ERs. At book prices, that makes it an $18 billion order but Emirates likely won’t pay that much. The UAE-based airline already had 138 777s flying or on order with Boeing when it announced the latest order. Boeing has also taken a stream of orders for its 787 Dreamliner and other models and Airbus tallied up more than 80 orders for its re-engined A320neo. A big chunk of that business almost went away during a public denunciation of Airbus by Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Bakar, who ridiculed the planemaker for a six-month delay of its A350 wide-body airliner. “Unfortunately I feel Airbus is … still learning how to make airplanes,” he told reporters. After a hastily arranged meeting, Al Bakar announced a $6.4 billion deal for 50 A320s and five A380s. Another small but significant order announced at Dubai will send 10 Bombardier CSeries 300 airliners to Turkey’s Atlasjet in a deal worth almost $800 million. Bombardier has been struggling for orders for the ultra-efficient 100-130-seat aircraft, which will begin deliveries in 2013.
