Airbus Signs Jet Order Valued at $1.2 Billion

Airbus Industrie said that Deutsche Lufthansa, already its biggest airline customer, signed an order for 11 airplanes--eight long-range A-340-300s and three single-aisle A-320s. Lufthansa also took options for six A-340-300s. The order is worth an estimated $1.2 billion, based on list prices, and as much as $1.9 billion if options are exercised. The contract fattened the order book of the European plane maker, already significantly ahead of rival Boeing Co. in winning orders for the year. As of the end of August, Airbus had won firm orders for 288 planes, compared with 134 for Boeing. The proportion of new orders won in the first eight months doesn’t necessarily indicate the year-end tally. Although Boeing, for example, announced intended orders of 50 planes from International Lease Finance Corp. in July and 10 planes from Singapore Airlines, it hasn’t included either figure in its tally as no firm orders have been signed.