Intensifying competition
Dominating Boeing's upbeat outlook was a five percent increase in the forecast for single-aisle aircraft, such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families, underpinned by an unchanged prediction for average global traffic growth of 4.7 percent.
The Chicago-based planemaker now sees 31,360 deliveries in the medium-haul, single-aisle category, the cash cow of the world's top two planemakers and popular with low-cost airlines.
Two weeks ago, Airbus raised its own rolling forecast for industry deliveries by more than seven percent and revamped the way it predicts demand, introducing new plane categories from 'Small' to 'Extra-Large' and blurring the traditional boundaries between aircraft types.
Boeing's Tinseth said Airbus sought to show it was winning a sizable share of the aircraft market.
"Let me make one thing clear," Tinseth said. "By every measure, in every way, our wide-bodies are winning. Period."
Even so, Boeing lowered its wide-body delivery forecast by 140 aircraft to 8,070, saying higher deliveries over the last year and longer-range single-aisle planes ate into the rolling forecast.
Boeing saw a small increase in demand in the cargo market, a barometer of trade and business confidence, forecasting 980 new freighters from a projected 920 a year ago, fuelled by the growth of e-commerce, particularly in China.
The planemaker unveiled a volley of freight orders in the first two days of the Farnborough show.
Boeing's overall forecast tally is a bigger number partly because it counts aircraft with 90 seats or more, whereas Airbus starts at 100 seats.
The smaller-end of the aircraft market has seen its biggest shake-up in decades after Airbus closed a deal to buy Bombardier's 110-130-seat CSeries jet, mirrored last week by Boeing's tentative deal to acquire the commercial unit of Brazil's Embraer SA.
Boeing shaved its forecast for the regional jet fleet to 2,320 deliveries. Analysts expect Boeing and Airbus to use their scale to heap pressure on suppliers to lower costs, which could trigger consolidation.
With the industry giants moving onto its turf, Japan's big hope for the regional jet market, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), was dealt a setback on Tuesday when it had to cancel a demo flight after the jet was hit by a truck.
