Airbus vows to challenge the secret Boeing 737 deal that stunned the Paris Air Show

PARIS - Airbus SE vowed to put up a fight to undo a $24 billion deal landed by rival Boeing Co. for 737 Max planes that proved to be the sales coup of this year’s Paris Air Show. Speaking at a final press conference from Le Bourget airfield outside the French capital on Thursday, Airbus sales chief Christian Scherer said the European planemaker never received a request for proposals—a document that formally launches bidding for most major aircraft contracts—from IAG SA, the owner of British Airways, report Benjamin Katz and Christopher Jasper for Fortune.com. Continue reading original article

The Intelligent Aerospace take:

June 21, 2019- Airbus sales chief Christian Scherer announced that the European rival to Boeing plans to bid on IAG's business. The parent company to British Airways among other carriers operates many Airbus aircraft, and as the 737 MAX deal is a letter of intent rather than a firm order, Airbus hopes to pull the rug out from under Boeing in their attempt to get momentum going on the beleaguered MAX line, which was grounded after a pair of deadly crashes in late 2018 and early 2019.

“We’d be very happy to compete when it comes to a tender for this large number of planes,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. “We are quite sure we will have an opportunity to apply. And make sure that in the end the best solution prevails for IAG, which is an important customer.”

Still, Airbus will likely have an uphill battle as speculators noted that IAG likely received steep discounts on the sticker price of the 737 MAX jets.

Related: Back to the MAX: International Airlines Group announces plans to purchase 200 Boeing MAX jets; numerous carriers select Boeing for freight aircraft

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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace