TOKYO: Airbus clinched orders for 65 jets from two of Boeing’s key Asian customers on Thursday, in a win for the European planemaker as its US rival grapples with quality issues after a mid-flight panel blowout on a 737 MAX 9 jet.
The orders are a blow to Boeing, which is struggling with a sprawling manufacturing crisis that has caused it to limit narrow-body jet production, making it harder to catch up to its European rival.
Japan Airlines (JAL) said it would buy 21 wide-body A350-900 and 11 A321neo narrow-body jets from Airbus, which will provide smaller single-aisle jets to the longtime Boeing customer for the first time.
The order from Japan’s second-largest airline allows Airbus to grow its foothold on a part of its rival’s turf following a breakthrough first order of A350 wide-body, or twin-aisle, jets used on longer international routes just over a decade ago.
