Boeing clinches second Dreamliner order at Dubai Air Show but trails Airbus in deals

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American plane-maker Boeing chalked its second Dreamliner order at the Dubai Air Show on Tuesday, announcing a sale of three of its 787-9 Dreamliners to the Republic of Ghana.

The planes, whose order value is $877.5 million at list prices, will go toward Ghana's yet-to-be launched airline, in which the government will hold a 10% stake. A steep discount off the list price is typically negotiated by airlines.

The long-haul, mid-size wide body 787-9 jet seats 242 to 330 passengers in a two-class layout. Its flight range aligns with Ghana's plans to include long-haul flights in its new airline, with routes to North America and Europe.

The order adds to what remains a starkly weak volume of deals for the American manufacturing giant, whose sales have been badly hit following two catastrophic crashes of its popular 737 Max jet in less than five months that killed a total of 346 people. Its fleet of roughly 400 jets around the world have been grounded since March.

Boeing's presence at the Middle East's flagship air show has been subdued as a result, weighed down by ensuing safety concerns and compensation charges.

Asked why Ghana's government chose Boeing over French rival Airbus — which has won new orders for some 180 jets so far this week — Ghanaian Aviation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda replied, "We chose Boeing because we know the strength of the company. ... We've done some studies, and we've assessed the wide-body aircraft manufacturers. Airbus is high quality, it was difficult to choose between the two of them, but we chose Boeing for now."

The deal brings Boeing's total firmed and provisional orders of commercial jets to 65, or just over one-third of those of Airbus so far. On Sunday, the company announced a sale of two of its 787-9 Dreamliners to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and on Monday it booked a firm order from Turkish carrier SunExpress for 10 of its still-grounded 737 Max jets.

The vote of confidence in the embattled aircraft gained traction Tuesday, with a letter of intent from Kazakhstan's Air Astana to buy 30 of the 737 Max planes and a reported separate order of 20 of the jets from an undisclosed buyer. All of the 737 Max deals remain subject to the aircraft receiving regulatory approval to return to service.

At Monday's market close, Boeing's stock price was down around 12% since the fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines' 737 Max 8 in March.

Boeing's airliner deals make up a combined value of $6.47 billion based on the most recently available list prices — a figure eclipsed by that of Airbus, whose total for the week stands at roughly $31.4 billion at list prices.

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