General view of the 47th Paris air show two days before its official opening on Monday at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France. - Reuters

Airbus racked up a series of big orders at the opening Monday of the world's biggest air show, stealing some early limelight from American rival Boeing Company.

With the manufacturer's intense competition again expected to be a dominant theme of the weeklong show at Le Bourget, north of Paris, both looked to make a splash from the get-go, with billions of dollars worth of orders announced.

The Paris show comes amid revived fortunes for the commercial airline industry. After two years in the red, the industry will make a profit of just over US$5 billion this year, despite rising fuel costs, says the International Air Transport Association (IATA), whose 250 members claim to represent 94 per cent of international air traffic.

Raft of planes

Airbus booked orders from U.S. Airways, Qatar Airlines, Emirates, Jazeera Airways and Nouvelair for a raft of planes, including its problem-plagued A350 and superjumbo A380 models.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy predicted that the planemaker will land more than 280 orders over the week - airlines often reserve big announcements for the show to ensure maximum impact.

At the last Le Bourget show in 2005, Airbus announced orders worth US$33.5 billion, double Boeing's US$15 billion, based on list prices - which are usually discounted for the deals.

"I would expect to exceed that this year. By how much it will exceed - why don't we wait until Friday to see," he said.

U.S. Airways Group was one of the first to announce an order Monday of 60 of Airbus' A320 single-aisle aircraft and 32 widebody aircraft. It also increased its previously announced order of 20 A350s by two to 22 A350 XWBs in both the 800 and larger 900 series configuration.

The A320s will replace Boeing 737-300/400s, which will be eliminated from the fleet, the carrier said. It added that it expects to take delivery of the first A350-800 in 2014, becoming the North American launch customer for the fleet type.

Another major order

In another major order for the Toulouse-based company, GE Commercial Aviation Services ordered 60 of the A320 family aircraft in a deal worth around US$4.4 billion at list prices.

Qatar ordered 80 A350 XWBs, three A380s and three A320 family aircraft. The A350 order was a confirmation of Qatar's earlier commitments to buy the 80 jets.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said the order for the A350s is worth US$16 billion.

Emirates is buying 55 of the A380s, making it by far the biggest single customer for the A380. However, Emirates remained undecided about whether it will sign up for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner or its wide-bodied Airbus rival, the A350 WXB.

Prior to Monday's orders, Airbus had only 13 firm orders for the mid-size, long-range plane, compared with 584 orders for Chicago-based Boeing's Dreamliner - the first commercial jet made of light, sturdy, carbon-fibre composites instead of aluminum.

Scott Carson, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said Monday that the Dreamliner was on track for test flights in August or September, and delivery to its first customers in May. Carson also announced Monday that GE Commercial Aviation Services had ordered six of its 777 freighters, worth US$1.42 billion at list prices. The order takes the number of 777s ordered by GECAS to 39, including 14 freighters.

In another deal for Boeing, Jakarta-based Lion Air ordered an additional 40 737-900ER planes. Valued at more than US$3 billion at list prices, that brings Lion Air's combined orders for the 737-900ER to 100.

- AP