Paris Airshow 2019 day three: Embraer, ATR bag orders; Airbus A321XLR is the talk of the town; 15 SpaceJets sold

Day three of the Paris Airshow was supposed to be a washout, given the rain predictions for yesterday. But it was not, eventually and the weather held up very well for a great day of order announcements, amongst other stuff at the Paris Airshow. Boeing and Airbus had their big moments on day one and two, so the Paris Airshow 2019 day three was more for the regional players, such as Embraer, ATR and others who would get down to making announcements.

Turboprop manufacturer ATR, which is a joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo, launched a new version of their regional plane, ATR 42, which can use runways as short as 800 metres for takeoff and landing. This should come in handy for hot and high operations, especially places where a long runway may not practical to build. Not surprisingly, the STOL got customers in Air Tahiti, Elix Aviation and an unnamed customer. ATR got a total of 75 commitments so far this year, worth a total of $1.75 billion.

The Embraer E195-E2, which makes it a point to come in a very attractive livery at every airshow, announced their orders yesterday. Embraer is celebrating their 50th anniversary at the show. They signed up KLM for up to 35 of these aircraft, and two with Spanish operator Binter. Not just that, United ordered the E175s, 20 of them, and Japan's Fuji Dream Airlines ordered a couple of them as well.

Just last week, the MRJ became the SpaceJet. And then yesterday, they sold 15 of the 70-seater SpaceJets to a North American customer. The aircraft has a great cabin, as displayed at the Paris Airshow, and let's hope more customers get to fly this sort of an aircraft.

The Airbus A321XLR, the newest variant of the A320 family, launched just this Monday, has people falling all over each other to get their hands on the new aircraft type as early as possible. This aircraft, which can fly the equivalent of Delhi to London non-stop with a full plane, is of course, the talk of the town for all the right reasons and the right economics. Qantas ordered 36 (including converting existing orders), Indigo Partners, the owner of three LCCs across the US, Chile and Europe, ordered 50 of these, and just as the day was winding down, Airbus brought in an order from American Airlines, ordering 50 of these birds, including conversions from earlier orders.

Not just that, Pawan Hans, the helicopter operator made an understanding to buy helicopters from Airbus as well, although no numbers were put on the deal.

I have to admit I was getting a bit worried that Qatar Airways, the only airline at the airshow with a stand of its own, was not ordering any aircraft. And then they walked in to the Boeing Chalet, and ordered five 777 Freighter aircraft. The aircraft major also managed to sell one 777LR to Turkmenistan Airlines.

That is the roundup of day three. Today is the last day of the show, so let's see what they got for us.

Read Ajay Awtaney's columns here.