Boeing Co. grabbed an early lead in orders and commitments at the Paris Air Show over Airbus Group SE, piling up a haul valued at almost $18 billion with help from a surprise surge in wide-body demand.
Airbus's first-day tally was $15 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The planemakers' standing at the aviation industry's oldest and largest trade event reversed their opening rankings at last year's Farnborough Air Show, which alternates with the Paris expo.
"There's more commercial activity than I expected," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at Fairfax, Virginia-based consultant Teal Group. "The market's still pretty buoyant. It's good to see some twin-aisle sales because that's where there are some gaps in the backlog."
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