Final thoughts on the 2013 Paris Air Show: year of the regional airliner

Posted by John Keller

THE MIL & AERO BLOG, 25 June 2013. The 2013 Paris Air Show is in the books, and as the dust settles we can conclude not only that commercial aviation is in healthy shape worldwide, but also that regional aircraft service is a growing concern.

Medium- and long-haul jet sales were healthy at Paris with global giants Airbus and Boeing with a combined 908 single-aisle and widebody passenger jets sold with a combined $136 billion, according to company figures.

Airbus sales included 371 sales of the single-aisle A320 family of passenger jetliners, as well as 69 sales of the future A350 XWB widebody passenger jet, and 20 orders for the A380 super jumbo jet, according to Airbus figures. Boeing, meanwhile, announced sales of 102 787-10 Dreamliner widebody jets, as well as a variety of the company's 737, 777, and 740 aircraft.

Regional passenger jet and turboprop sales, were not far behind their larger cousins. Regional aircraft makers Embraer of Brazil, ATR of France, and Bombardier of Canada sold a collective 583 regional airliners at Paris, indicating a growing need for regional air service worldwide.

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Paris Air Show wrapup: about 1,460 aircraft sales announced in week of transactions, with Airbus and Embraer big winners

They count planes differently, don't they?

Who ever would have guessed that Embraer would be such a dominant player at Paris Air Show?.

Among the regional aircraft makers Embraer shone at Paris with 381 sales announced for the company's recently announced E2 series of aircraft, which includes the E175-E2 that seats as many as 88 passengers, the E-190-E2 that seats as many as 106, and the E195-E2, which seats as many as 132 passengers.

The Paris Air Show was the best in the history of the Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR, company officials say, with sales announced for 173 planes. The company's biggest sale at Paris was to Nordic Aviation Capital for 91 twin-engine ATR 72-600s.

Bombardier announced sales of 73 aircraft at Paris, which included 29 orders for the company's CRJ1000 NextGen regional jet and Q400 NextGen regional turboprops.

So we didn't see record total aircraft sales at Paris this year, but we did see regional passenger aircraft sales somewhat keeping pace with the medium- and long-haul regional planes, which is out of the ordinary.

Rarely do the regional aircraft makers come close to Boeing and Airbus in sales at the major global air shows, and perhaps this makes results of the 2013 Paris Air Show the year of the regional aircraft.

For complete coverage of the 2013 Paris Air Show log on to the Avionics Intelligence Paris Air Show Report at www.avionics-intelligence.com/paris-air-show.