Paris show shifts focus from deal-making to plane-making

Paris

AFTER the marketing triumphs of recent years, manufacturing moved into the spotlight on the opening day of the Paris Air Show as planemakers Airbus and Boeing battle to deliver a record US$1.8 trillion backlog of orders.

There was still the traditional burst of multi-billion-dollar deals in the first few hours of Monday of the aerospace industry's annual jamboree, with fast-growing Middle Eastern and Asian airlines again leading the buying.