The Farnborough International Airshow opened on 20 July with Riyadh Air confirming additional orders for 28 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and six Airbus A350-1000s, lifting the Saudi start-up’s firm wide-body commitments to 67 and 31 aircraft respectively. The carrier, which launched scheduled passenger services in June, aims to connect Riyadh to more than 100 destinations by 2030. The twin announcements, together with a firm order from SMBC Aviation Capital for 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets, signalled that demand for new aircraft remains robust. Yet the dominant theme on the first day was not order intake but the industry’s struggle to translate backlogs into deliveries.

Boeing’s commercial chief Stephanie Pope told reporters that supply chains remain “somewhat unstable,” with engines from GE Aerospace a critical factor in determining production rates. The US manufacturer is stabilising 737 output at 47 per month before targeting 52, with a longer-term goal of 63. The first delivery of the long-delayed 777X is now expected in 2027. Airbus faces parallel constraints, and both airframers are prioritising production discipline over splashy deal-making. Turkish Airlines’ planned order for 150 Boeing 737 MAX jets, for instance, remains contingent on long-term engine maintenance agreements, while Etihad and Philippine Airlines are in talks over additional wide-bodies, though no binding contracts have been signed.

Philippine Airlines did sign a memorandum of understanding for up to 20 Boeing 787-10s, its first direct Boeing order since 2007, with deliveries to begin in 2031. Air Algérie put its first 737 MAX 8 into revenue service on routes from Algiers to Tunis and London, part of a fleet renewal that includes 10 MAX 8s, eight MAX 9s and 10 Airbus A330-900neos. Separately, Algeria and South Korea agreed traffic rights for four weekly flights, clearing the way for a direct Algiers–Seoul route that would become only the second scheduled air link between Africa and South Korea.

The airshow, which runs until 24 July, reflects a dual reality: half of the record 1,600 exhibitors are from the defence sector, mirroring rising global military spending, while commercial aviation grapples with a backlog of over 6,200 aircraft at Boeing alone. The ability to convert orders into deliveries will determine whether manufacturers can improve cash flow and challenge Airbus’s dominance in the narrow-body segment. The next factual milestone to watch is whether engine suppliers can stabilise output sufficiently to allow the planned rate increases later this year.