Tuesday 29 January 2019 9:45 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 2:42 am

Boeing and Airbus to deliver $4.3bn worth of jets to Japan in deal with airline ANA

Japanese airline ANA Group confirmed this morning it is to buy 30 aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing and 18 from European competitor Airbus, nudging the latter’s shares up one per cent this morning.

The orders from Boeing and Airbus are worth $2.3bn and $1.99bn respectively, according to list prices, but airlines typically get large discounts.

The purchase is the first in Japan for Boeing’s latest edition of its best-selling 737 model, and comes as the country faces pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut its trade surplus with the United States.

ANA was the first Japanese firm to pick Airbus’ narrowbody plan five years ago, and has now ordered 18 of the A320neo model, the newest version of the A320 jet popular with Japan’s low-cost airlines.

“The decision was based on the economic growth of Asia and emerging countries, with demand in the Asian aviation market and inbound demand on the rise,” ANA said of the fresh orders.

Deliveries of the planes are pencilled in to begin in 2021, stretching through until 2025. ANA said it also had options for another 10 of Boeing’s jets.

Earlier this month it emerged Boeing had pipped its arch-rival Airbus to the post in the race for the most aircraft orders in 2018 for the first time in six years. Boeing had 893 orders against Airbus’ 747, while the American firm also won the race to the most deliveries for the seventh straight year.

Although Boeing missed its target for deliveries and Airbus had lowered its annual goal because of a creaking global supply chain, strong demand for passenger jets increased total deliveries by eight per cent, the fastest pace in six years.

Airbus also made the news at the end of last week as chief executive Tom Enders has issued yet another stark warning about the effect a no-deal Brexit would have on the aviation giant’s UK business.

In a video message, Enders urged Britain’s politicians not to listen to “the Brexiteers’ madness which asserts that, because we have huge plants here, we will not move and we will always be here. They are wrong”.

He said Airbus, one of Britain’s biggest manufacturers with 14,000 employees in the UK, would be forced to make “potentially very harmful decisions” for its UK business in the event of a no-deal scenario.