It sounded like one of the announcements that normally come out of Farnborough and Paris, but the $8 billion deal was made in Hong Kong at an aviation trade show that could rival the European shows for importance in coming years. HNA Group, which operates Hong Kong Airlines and Hainan Airlines, signed a preliminary deal for 30 Boeing 787-9s, six 777 freighters, and two 787-8 VIP jets at Asian Aerospace Expo and Congress 2011. Air China also announced a deal for five 747-8 airliners worth $1.6 billion retail (airlines usually get discounts on big orders). A couple of business jet OEMs also announced major orders.
HNA also operates a bizjet business and bought five G450 and G550s from Gulfstream and five Dassault Falcon 7Xs. Jean-Michel Jacob, Dassault’s VP on international sales, told The Associated Press that “it’s uncommon to sell five aircraft in one contract.” Airbus didn’t have any sales to announce at our deadline, but the show goes until Thursday.
