The Paris Air Show recently wrapped up, and Boeing didn’t have very much to show for it. The American aviation manufacturer declined to announce any new deals, only cementing a previously announced agreement with All Nippon Airways for 23 787-9s and 18 737 MAX 8s, with options for another four of the latter. Otherwise, the company kept a pretty low profile.
The biannual Paris Air Show is the largest sales convention for aircraft in the world, where manufacturers can show off all their new planes and upgrades for airlines or militaries to buy in bulk. Taking place at Paris-Le Bourget Airport, it’s where a large portion of all plane sales take place. This year, Boeing’s archrival Airbus raked in $21 billion at the show, including 148 firm orders and 102 provisional ones, per Reuters. This covered a broad range from Airbus’ catalogue, going to airlines across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. If this were a straight fight between the two companies, then Airbus won it outright.
Even Brazil’s Embraer, normally a distant third to the other two, outdid Boeing this time around, securing 77 orders plus a further 55 options. All around, this was a very soft Paris Air Show for Boeing. And that’s… okay, actually.
The impact of the Air India crash
The shadow looming over the Paris Air Show as a whole was the tragic crash of Air India Flight 171, involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Because of that, Boeing may have canceled some rumored announcements and a flashier overall presence, per Aerospace America. Instead, the company made no announcements at all and declined to sign any new deals. In terms of Boeing’s bottom line, then, its soft showing at Paris this year is actually pretty easy to explain, and not necessarily a deeper sign of bigger problems.
That said, Boeing does indeed have bigger problems. Its next model, the 777X, just can’t get certified for sales; neither can the 737 MAX 7 or MAX 10, the shortest and longest variants of that airframe, respectively. The stalwart of American aviation was trying to put the crashes of 2018 and 2019 behind them, not to mention the panel blowout in 2024, so the very first crash of a 787 isn’t exactly going to help it revive its once-sterling reputation.
But Boeing’s 2025 is otherwise looking pretty good
So, the Paris Air Show was a bit of a bust for Boeing. Looking at the rest of 2025, though, the picture looks a lot rosier. Timed to coincide with a visit to Qatar by President Donald Trump in May, Qatar Airways made the biggest purchase in its history with an order for 130 787s and 30 777Xs, plus options for 50 more, per CNBC. That same month, Boeing sold 32 787s and 6 777Xs to the International Airlines Group, per Simple Flying. Given all that, the Paris Air Show wasn’t necessarily vital for Boeing this year anyway.
In fact, while these sales are hugely important, they’re also a long way away from actually being fulfilled. Boeing can only make so many planes a year, and right now, it’s sold out through 2032, with fully 5,000 planes on backorder. If the manufacturer has poor sales one year, it’s got several more years to make up for it before it even becomes an issue. All combined, then, Boeing pretty clearly made a choice to just write off this year’s Paris Air Show, as opposed to trying really hard and failing.
