Farnborough Airshow: Boeing soars above Airbus ahead of week-long industry event
Boeing is soaring above rival Airbus ahead of the week-long Farnborough Airshow, which analysts expect to be a "damp squib".
Airbus said this week it had booked 27 new plane orders in June and delivered 64, marking a difficult road ahead to meet full-year targets.
It goes into the week-long industry event having booked 183 new orders in the first six months, against a target of more than 650 plane orders for the year.
Meanwhile, Boeing secured 276 net orders between the start of the year and 28 June.
But demand is down against the first half of last year, and the second half of 2016 is expected to produce lower orders compared to previous years as a result of lower oil prices.
The fall in Brent crude has slowed the ordering cycle, which has knocked new aircraft's competitive advantage.
This is because airline manufacturers develop new planes and engines, and airlines order them, to reduce fuel consumption. But this dramatic shift offsets the operating cost advantage highly utilised new aircraft would otherwise have possessed.
"With this year's Airshow looking likely to be a bit of damp squib, we don't expect it to help the already subdued sentiment around the aerospace sector," Robert Stallard, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note.
For Airbus, deliveries of the A320neo are hit by suppliers problems, handing over just one in June and bringing the total for the year to eight.