Airbus leads Boeing in orders, output

Airbus sold 31 planes in September, bringing gross orders for the first nine months of the year to 785 aircraft as the European plane maker held a lead over strike-hit Boeing in orders and deliveries. Stripping out cancellations, Airbus reported a net total of 737 aircraft orders in the first nine months of the year.
It received cancellations in September for two of its longest-range aircraft, the A340-500 worth $240 million each, according to monthly figures released on Tuesday. However, the order tally does not yet include a 55-plane purchase from Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which could bring Airbus within reach of its goal of 850 annual plane orders if it enters the backlog before the end of the year.
Although the $11 billion order dominated headlines at the Farnborough air show in July, getting it into the order book has proved a headache as Airbus and the Gulf emirate negotiate an industrial offset deal, according to industry executives.
Airbus delivered 34 planes in September and 104 in the third quarter, bringing deliveries for the year so far to 349 jets. Deliveries at rival Boeing have been hit by a production workers' strike, now exactly one month old. The US jetmaker said last week it had delivered 84 planes in the third quarter, down from 109 in the same quarter of 2007.