Paris - The Asian carrier PT Garuda Indonesia surprised all and sundry about slow orders by committing to about $20bn in aircraft from Airbus and Boeing to rejuvenate its fleet and serve booming travel demand.
Boeing signed a memorandum with the airline for 30 787-9 Dreamliners with a list price of about $7.7bn, together with 30 shorter-range 737 Max 8 airliners worth about $3.2bn.
Airbus signed a letter of intent with the carrier for 30 A350 wide-bodies, the European manufacturer’s newest model. That agreement has a list price of more than $9bn.
Newest aircraft
Airbus also announced that Saudi Arabian Airlines will become the first customer for a regional version of its A330-300 airliner and will buy 20 of the planes, together with 30 single-aisle A320s with current-generation engines. The European planemaker has sought to gain a bigger slice of the wide-body market, which has historically been a Boeing stronghold, and both companies have brought their newest aircraft to the event to showcase their capabilities.
The Paris show, which alternates with the Farnborough expo southwest of London, is set to provide a further order lift for both companies in the narrow-body market, the backbone of most global airline fleets.
The largest transaction could be for 100 Boeing Maxes for lessor AerCap Holdings NV, people familiar with the matter said. That would be valued at more than $10bn, based on the $106.9m list price for the top-selling Max 8.