Airbus tallied 425 orders at the Paris Air Show this year, helping to dispell its also-ran status in the aircraft industry in recent years. Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline, Air France-KLM, and Aeroflot all made significant commitments to Airbus aircraft. The company hopes its bulging order book will instill confidence in current and potential customers.
As recently as the end of May, Airbus had less than half the orders Boeing had booked for the year; now it's in the lead, at 600 to Boeing's 510. The copy has been plagued by problems in recent years: Boeing has outperformed it, there has been management turmoil at parent company EADS, design issues are delaying the super-jumbo A380 production, and worker morale is low. (More Boeing stories.)