Boeing Has Most Jet Orders at Farnborough Airshow

Boeing received 173 orders for aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow, outdoing Airbus with 154 jet orders (Yahoo! Finance). The aerospace company had other impressive exhibits and announcements at the airshow, one of the defense and aerospace industries’ premier events.

The orders: Major purchasers included SMBC Aviation Capital, which ordered 100 737 MAX airplanes, including 60 737-10 and 40 737-8 ​jets (Reuters, subscription).

• Meanwhile, Riyadh Air “exercised options ⁠for 28 Boeing 787 Dreamliners from an order placed in 2023, converting 20 of those aircraft to the larger 787-10 variant,” and Philippine Air made an order of up to 20 787-10 Dreamliner widebody twin jets.

The Ghost Bat: On the defense side, Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat made its Farnborough Airshow debut (Defense News).

• The uncrewed aircraft recently participated in exercises in the Western Pacific alongside crewed coalition jets—“becoming the first and only collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) deployed to a multinational, joint operational exercise,” according to the company.
• The Ghost Bat provides surveillance and electronic warfare assistance to crewed jet missions.

Poseidon: Boeing also hosted a briefing for journalists on the P-8 Poseidon, featuring a German captain of naval aviation who spoke about the platform’s advantages (Defence Industry Europe).

• “This aircraft is wonderful,” said Capt. Broder Nielsen. “We received it nine months ago, and we were already around the globe basically with this aircraft.”
• The P-8, which the U.S. Navy also operates, has anti-submarine, anti-surface, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. It can also support search and rescue missions.

Chinook in action: Lastly, the RAF Chinook Role Demo Team performed an aerial display, lifting a large truck and depositing it on the runway while remaining airborne (AIN).

• The Chinook can carry up to 10 tons of cargo or up to 55 troops, according to the company.