Cheaper fuel good for airlines but a concern for Boeing and Airbus

Paris

SHARPLY falling oil prices are a welcome boon to airlines, saving billions of dollars in monthly fuel bills for a highly competitive industry that last year eked out an average profit of just US$6 per passenger.

But what is good news for the airlines raises questions for the world's largest jet makers, Boeing and Airbus, which have been riding a wave of demand for the latest fuel-efficient jets, driven in large part by the stubbornly high price of oil.