A summer battle for orders is underway in the global jet industry, which gathers in Beijing on Sunday for the first of two crucial events in two months, pitting the world's largest planemakers against each other in a race for deals worth $50 billion at catalogue prices.
The potential deals span all continents and every pattern of powered flight from the largest airliners to warplanes and luxury business jets, shielding aerospace workers from the worst effects of a slowdown spreading from Europe's debt crisis. But analysts say Airbus and Boeing are having to offer sporadically hefty discounts to ride out economic uncertainty, especially for maturing models or early batches of new ones like the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing is expected to win the fiercely contested annual order race for the first time since 2006 as it catches up with a decision by Airbus to revamp medium-haul jets, resulting in big fuel savings for airlines on the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
The dominant civil planemakers are also positioning themselves early ahead of next month's Farnborough air show, with deals worth $14 billion announced in the past 72 hours.
Both companies have accused each other of waging a price war to win hundreds of orders for the revamped A320neo and 737 MAX respectively, and deny cutting corners themselves. Several industry analysts say pricing is under pressure this year.