Boeing edges Airbus as Farnborough closes with 327 orders, well below forecasts
The airshow's four trade days delivered $84.7bn in deals, but one lessor drove most of the total and the count trailed bullish predictions.
The 2026 Farnborough International Airshow wound down its trade days with Boeing narrowly out in front of Airbus, closing a subdued edition that showed how far the industry's focus has shifted from headline orders toward fixing production.
By Reuters' tally, Boeing logged 173 firm and provisional orders to Airbus's 154, a combined 327 aircraft. Stripping out deals already sitting in the manufacturers' books before a buyer was named, including Boeing's share of one large lessor commitment, the genuinely new total falls to about 218 jets. Across the four trade days, the trade body ADS put the value of all announced deals at roughly $84.7bn.
One customer did most of the heavy lifting. Lessor SMBC Aviation Capital opened the week with a 200-jet order split evenly between the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo family, a single deal that accounted for more than 60 percent of the firm orders booked all week. Widebody commitments from Riyadh Air and Philippine Airlines, an AerCap order for 15 Boeing 787-9s and Abra Group's first Embraer deal rounded out a thinner than usual board.
Engine makers, tellingly, were busier than the airframers. Manufacturers logged more than 900 firm engine orders, led by a record CFM International commitment for over 1,000 LEAP-1A engines tied to jets already sold.
The 327 total edged past the 2024 show but landed nowhere near the 800 aircraft some analysts had floated, and far below the 2018 peak of 1,109. With order books already stretching into the next decade, the modest count was widely expected.
"I didn't have high expectations of big commercial orders at the show ... because a lot of large orders are already out there," airline analyst John Strickland said.
