Big Qantas deal looms as Boeing, Airbus sales up
Reuters, London
Already well over $100 billion and still growing, Boeing and Airbus have had a record year in plane orders and are set for a final boost from Australia's Qantas and rivals in Asia.Qantas and Singapore Airlines are working on blockbuster deals worth more than $10 billion each that executives at Airbus and Boeing are working overtime to win, industry officials say. A visit to France starting Sunday by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is being flagged to include a $5 billion Airbus plane order announcement for Chinese airlines. They plan to buy at least 70 narrow-body airbus A320 planes, sources close to the deal told Reuters in Beijing this week. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific announced a Boeing order worth about $3 billion this week, the largest in Cathay's 59-year history.
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