Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images
Airbus A380 performs an aerial demonstration over the Le Bourget Airport during the 52nd International Paris Air Show on June 22, 2017, in Paris, France.
Airbus was heavily tipped to announce an Emirates order for 30 new A380 planes on day one of the airshow. The deal never happened and Emirates President Tim Clark offered an indication why, when he explained that Airbus needed to commit to the superjumbo program for at least 10 years.
It wasn’t until day three of the show that Airbus announced a commercial order. Golden Falcon Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for 25 of Airbus’s popular A320neo aircraft. Although the contract value was not unveiled, the list price for one A320neo is approximately $108 million, giving a total order of $2.7 billion. The planes will be used by Kuwait’s resurrected Wataniya Airlines.
Then came the big one. Airbus turned its fortunes around with a mammoth order of 430 jets from the A320 family, worth a list price total of $49.5 billion. The buyer, who will seek financing for the deal, was U.S. private equity firm Indigo Partners. Signing the deal for Indigo was veteran airline investor Bill Franke, who described it as the largest aircraft order ever.
