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(Recasts after airline statement)
By Tim Hepher and Tassilo Hummel
PARIS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Airbus completed a triple
crown of aircraft orders at the expense of rival Boeing
on Thursday with a deal to supply 100 narrowbody jets to Air
France-KLM subsidiaries in the airline group's largest purchase
based on number of jets.
The planemaker's third big win in 36 hours - after deals in
Singapore and Australia - involves Dutch subsidiary KLM and a
pair of low-cost units, all of which have traditionally relied
solely on Boeing for widely used medium-haul passenger planes.
The contract covers Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft and
will renew the medium-haul fleets of KLM and Dutch low-cost unit
Transavia Netherlands, while also allowing for both the renewal
and expansion of the fleet at sister unit Transavia France.
The bigger-than-expected order from Europe's second-largest
airline group by fleet size came hours after Airbus clinched a
deal to supply two tranches of aircraft to Australia's Qantas
in a separate defeat for existing supplier Boeing.
Air France-KLM said it had also signed a letter of intent to
buy four Airbus A350 freighters.
Collectively, those orders cap a dramatic week for Airbus
after Singapore Airlines threw its weight behind its
efforts to break Boeing's grip on the cargo plane market, with
its own tentative order for seven A350 freighters.
Reuters reported earlier on Thursday that Airbus was poised
to win all or part of the widely watched Air France-KLM deal
after emerging as front-runner last week.
First deliveries are expected in the second half of 2023,
with the bulk of deliveries expected beyond mid-decade.
Neither side gave a value for the deal, which experts said
is worth billions of dollars.
Factors in Airbus's favour in recent months have included a
gradual thawing of relations between French and Dutch arms of
the airline group, which have different suppliers, and tensions
over recent Boeing 787 delays, industry sources said.
U.S. analysts said pressure from European governments to buy
Airbus planes in return for bailouts may have played a role.
Even so, Boeing is ahead on firm orders so far this year as
of the end of November, due to a sharp recovery in sales of the
737 MAX after it returned to service following a safety ban.
Boeing is expected to grab at least one more order before
year-end and has the edge in a relaunched narrowbody contest at
British Airways owner IAG, industry sources said.
Airlines are once again placing orders for jets as the
industry starts to map growth beyond the pandemic and take
advantage of lower fuel costs and emissions.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Eric M. Johnson, Geert De Clercq;
Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Cynthia Osterman)
