By Victoria Bryan and Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) - Boeing (N:BA) won a red hot race for new business at the Paris Airshow, rolling out a new model of its best-selling 737 airliner that helped it claim back the order crown from rival Airbus (PA:AIR)
After a show in which both manufacturers did brisk business under a sweltering sun, the European planemaker said on Thursday it won 326 net new orders and commitments while U.S. rival Boeing said its total was 571.
That included 147 new orders and commitments for the 737 MAX 10, plus 214 conversions to the MAX 10 from other models to support the launch of the new plane.
"The MAX stole the show," Ihssane Mounir, vice president of sales and marketing at Boeing's commercial aircraft division, told journalists. "This is probably one of our busiest air shows."
Asked if Airbus had lost momentum after years in which it often trounced Boeing at annual industry gatherings, sales chief John Leahy said the slowdown in orders had been expected.
"Is this a slower show than previous years? Yes, it is. Are we conceding that Boeing sold a few more airplanes than we did? Yes," he told a news conference.
In a late flurry on Thursday morning, Airbus signed deals for almost 100 aircraft, with AirAsia and privately-owned Iranian carriers Zagros Airlines and Iran Airtour.
Boeing topped up its tally by announcing a firm order for 125 737 MAX 8 airplanes with an undisclosed customer and another deal with lessor AerCap (N:AER) to convert 15 of its MAX 8 orders into the larger MAX 10. It also added a memorandum of understanding from Chinese domestic Riuli Airlines for 20 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Analyst Richard Aboulafia, of Virginia-based Teal Group, said commercial activity had been better than expected and was reminiscent of shows in 2009 and 2011, when the aircraft industry had bucked a retreating world economy.
"This time we've got instability and uncertainty in many regions of the world, but airline traffic is strong, and as we've seen at this show, airlines want jets and the finance people are certainly happy to help."
Leahy said he had expected the new Boeing plane to make more of a splash. "We had expected they would have had a bigger launch on the 737 MAX 10, not quite as many conversions, more incremental orders."
While he did not expect the MAX 10 to be a viable competitor to the A321, Leahy said the Boeing plane's launch could result in price pressure. "They're clearly going to come after us on price."
The A321 is larger than any previous member of the 737 family, a gap that the MAX 10 is intended to close.