Farnborough Airshow Day 2 Roundup: What Did The Second Day Have In Store?

Boeing continued its strong sales streak on Day 2 of the Airshow, with Embraer and ATR also locking in sales while Airbus does less well so far.



Boeing's run of big-ticket aircraft sales at the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow continued on Tuesday with a 66 plane sale to 777 Partners and a smaller sale to leasing giant AerCap. Embraer also has a smashing second day at the Airshow, locking in sales to Porter Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Both aircraft manufacturers left Airbus in their wake, with the Toulouse plane maker only able to confirm an order with Delta for a dozen A220-300 aircraft.

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777 Partners' headline-grabbing deal with Boeing

The Miami-headquartered investment firm 777 Partners made its presence felt at the Airshow on Tuesday morning by signing a deal with Boeing to buy 66 aircraft from the 737 MAX family, including both the MAX 8 and MAX 8-200 variants. Boeing's Stan Deal said he "loved it" that the order included 30 high density 8-200 variants. 777 Partners already have orders at Boeing for 68 MAXs. Canada's Flair and Australia's Bonza are among the 777 Partners-owned airlines that will eventually be the beneficiaries of Tuesday's order.

On Tuesday, Boeing also sold five 787-9 Dreamliners to AerCap, a dozen 737 MAX 8s to Aviation Capital Group, and nine 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCFs) to BBAM Aircraft Leasing. In the first two days of Farnborough, Boeing has sold over 200 planes - a spectacular effort.

A very good second day at Farnborough for Embraer

Brazil's Embraer also has a good second day at the Airshow. Embraer sold eight E175-E1 jets (with options for 13 more) to Alaska Airlines and 20 E195-E2 jets to Canada's Porter Airlines. Those sales figures don't match Boeing's, but it's all a matter of perspective - Embraer is a much smaller company.

"Embraer has a proven aircraft, representing the best of environmental efficiency, operating performance, and passenger comfort," said Porter's President and CEO Michael Deluce. "The aircraft will become core to our fleet, as Porter reshapes passenger expectations for air travel in same way we did over 15 years ago."

Porter is now an exclusively de Havilland Dash 8-400 operator but is betting big on Embraer to support its future operations. Porter Airlines already had a firm order for 30 E195-E2. Tuesday's deal takes Porter's total E195-E2 orders to 50 with options for 50 more.

A slow sales day for Airbus

Meanwhile, the pace was a little slower in the Airbus camp. They announced the sale of a dozen A220-300 jets to Delta Air Lines. It takes the US airline's total A220 commitment to 107 planes - split between 45 A220-100s and 62 A220-300s. After ordering a massive 100 MAX jets from Boeing on Monday, perhaps Delta felt obliged to buy something from Airbus? Good manners and all.

"The A220-300 is economical, efficient, and delivers superior performance. These additional aircraft in the A220 Family are an excellent investment for our customers and employees and will be fundamental as we work toward a more sustainable future for air travel," said a Delta statement following Tuesday's deal.

In raw sales numbers, Airbus was almost bested on Tuesday by a relative minnow in the aircraft manufacturing world - ATR. The Italian plane builder secured sales of ten ATR 72-600s to leasing company Abelo and also sold one ARE 42-600 to Japanese airline Oriental Air Bridge. One more sale and ATR would have matched Airbus sales numbers on Tuesday.