Boeing Co. (BA)’s four-decade-old 747 jumbo jet picked up a new fan base at the Paris Air Show as its latest version won customers and eclipsed the bungled appearance of Airbus SAS’s A380 flagship double-decker.
While Airbus draped the exhibition with billboards touting the world’s largest passenger plane as “Love at First Flight,” the A380’s initial rendezvous was with an airport building which kissed a wingtip and forced a return to the factory for repairs.
The wing strike was a rare misstep at a show dominated by orders for Airbus’s A320neo single-aisle model. With the damaged A380 gone for the first two days of the show, Boeing’s 747-8 Intercontinental in red “sunrise” livery made its debut in the expo’s static display and to add insult to injury won 19 orders or commitments as Airbus’s superjumbo came away empty-handed.
Full story: Boeing’s Latest Jet Takes Paris Spotlight | Bloomberg