Airbus, Boeing, announce 10 bln dollars plane deals

FARNBOROUGH, England, July 19 (Reuters) Airbus and Boeing Co. announced aircraft deals worth more than 10 billion dollars at list prices on Wednesday, underscoring strong demand as soaring crude prices prompt airlines to buy new, more fuel-efficient planes.

Airbus, reeling from delays to its flagship A380 superjumbo and struggling to get the design right for its mid-sized A350, unveiled a deal worth up to 4.7 billion dollars deal with Malaysia's AirAsia and a memorandum which could lead to sales worth 3.6 billion dollars to Spain's Grupo Marsans.

The deals take Airbus's tally to over 10 billion dollars at this week's Farnborough International Airshow, just pipping Boeing.

Boeing entered the event, the year's biggest air show, having outsold Airbus at a rate of four-to-one and on track to steal the annual orders crown for the first time since 2000.

The event is especially important for Airbus, 80 percent owned by European aerospace group EADS, as it tries to repair a reputation rocked by delays to its A380 superjumbo and its indecision over building the new A350 mid-sized model.

The firm announced a -billion relaunch of the A350 on Monday, but it still faces a struggle to win over customers, with Boeing's mid-sized 787 due to arrive in 2008, some four years ahead of the new A350.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy remained upbeat, saying the firm had ''not given up'' on selling its newly relaunched A350 jet to Singapore Airlines.

This is despite Singapore Airlines deciding last month to buy up to 40 of Boeing's mid-sized 787 planes.

But the world's biggest aircraft leasing firm signalled Airbus still had a long way to go with the A350, which will now be made in three, bigger versions rather than the originally envisaged two.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) and a vocal critic of the previous A350 design, said the new plan was a ''step in the right direction,'' but that important details still needed to be worked out.

''We haven't seen the final pricing, and we want to see the performance guarantees,'' he said at the air show.

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