By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. planemaker Boeing (N:BA) beat its European rival Airbus (PA:AIR) in net new airplane orders and deliveries in the first quarter, according to figures released on Tuesday.
The two plane giants showed mixed results in the traditionally slow first quarter for new plane orders but the gap between them in deliveries widened after Boeing posted record first-quarter deliveries.
Airbus said it had booked gross orders of 121 aircraft between January and March, beating Boeing's total of 116.
After adjusting for cancellations and conversions between different models, it slipped behind Boeing with net orders for 101 aircraft as opposed to 110 for Boeing.
Airbus won the annual order race last year with 1,456 net orders, squeezing ahead of Boeing's total of 1,432. Both planemakers have set targets suggesting a slowdown this year.
In the first quarter, the bulk of Airbus's new business fell in March when Air Lease Corp (N:AL) finalised orders for 55 aircraft including 25 revamped A330 wide-body models.
Philippine Airlines upgraded orders for 10 A321 jets to the A321neo, a re-engined 185-seat variant of the Airbus narrowbody family due to enter service in late 2016.
Airbus logged 134 plane deliveries in the first quarter including one of its newest model, the A350, and four A380s.
Deliveries slipped from 141 in the first quarter of last year as A320-family volumes dipped to 109 aircraft from 111 a year earlier and the wide-body A330 slipped to 20 from 28.
Boeing last week posted 184 first-quarter deliveries, up from 161 a year earlier due partly to a jump in production of its 787 Dreamliner. Airbus is in the early stages of a sharp increase in production of its comparable A350 aircraft.
Deliveries at both planemakers traditionally accelerate during the year, peaking in the fourth quarter.
But at 42 percent in the first quarter, Airbus took the lowest quarterly market share against its rival since the first quarter of 2002, according to Reuters estimates.
Airbus was not immediately available to comment.