A lot took place at Farnborough Air Show in this 2026 edition. Differently to past years I’m choosing to report on what happened in a single post rather than in multiple order specific posts. Unfortunately time isn’t as abundant these days and I have to maximize what I have. So here’s what happened over the past week and which were the best performing attendants.
In this post:
- In a Nutshell: What Happened at Farnborough 2026
- Boeing Slightly Ahead of Airbus in Total Orders
- Some Friction With Emirates For Boeing Over the 777X
- Embraer Got Some Action For its E2 Family Too
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In a Nutshell: What Happened at Farnborough 2026
In the span of a week a total of 355 firm aircraft orders were confirmed. Now that includes both option conversions and brand new orders being placed or announced at the air show.
On top of those 355 orders an additional 33 order options were also announced. They may or may not translate into aircraft orders at a later stage.
| Manufacturer | Orders | Options | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing | 173 | 7 | 180 |
| Airbus | 154 | 0 | 154 |
| Embraer | 28 | 26 | 54 |
Boeing Slightly Ahead of Airbus in Total Orders
As you might expect, Airbus and Boeing raked in the most action at the 2026 Farnborough air show. Embraer had its smaller share and appearance in the show’s limelight.
However Boeing did have a bit more action than Airbus, more significantly on the much more lucrative wide-body aircraft segment.
| Airline/Firm | New Order/Option Conversion | Total Aircraft Ordered | Manufacturer | Variant1 | V1 Firm Orders | V1 Options | Variant2 | V2 Firm Orders | V2 Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMBC Aviation Capital | New Order | 100 | Boeing | 737-10 | 60 | 0 | 737-8 | 40 | 0 |
| Philippine Airlines | New Order | 15 | Boeing | 787-10 | 15 | 5 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Riyadh Air | Option Conversion | 28 | Boeing | 787-10 | 20 | 0 | 787-9 | 8 | 0 |
| Luxair | Option Conversion | 2 | Boeing | 737-10 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Uganda Airlines | New Order | 8 | Boeing | 737-8 | 4 | 0 | 787-9 | 4 | 0 |
| MSC Air Cargo | New Order | 5 | Boeing | 777-8F | 5 | 0 | |||
| Aercap | New Order | 15 | Boeing | 787-10 | 15 | 0 | |||
| Total | – | 173 | – | – | 121 | 7 | – | 52 | 0 |
Despite Boeing having more overall orders, Airbus was the champion in terms of narrow body planes ordered at this year’s show. A total of 124 among A320neo and A321neo were ordered while Boeing received orders for 106 737s in its 9 and 10 variants.
As mentioned, where Boeing really shun was in the wide body segment, where it received firm orders (including option conversions and order expansions) for 67 aircraft, split in:
- 62 Boeing 787s
- 5 Boeing 777-8F
| Model | Orders | Options | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 737 | 106 | 2 | 108 |
| 787 | 62 | 5 | 67 |
| 777F | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Airbus’ wide body aircraft received orders but not on the same scale and magnitude. 20 Airbus wide body aircraft orders were placed at Farnborough 2026 air show. 15 of those orders were for the A350-1000 and 5 for the A330-900.
All in all Boeing did come out slightly on top from this event, but it does have significant ground to make up before catching Airbus. It’s also fair to state that Boeing won the duel on wide bodies but Airbus clearly was the top performer in terms of narrow body aircraft.
| Airline/Firm | New Order/Option Conversion | Total Aircraft Ordered | Manufacturer | Variant1 | V1 Firm Orders | V1 Options | Variant2 | V2 Firm Orders | V2 Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riyadh Air (Not New Order) | Option Conversion | 6 | Airbus | A350-1000 | 6 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Shohin Airlines | New Order | 4 | Airbus | A320neo | 2 | 0 | A321neo | 2 | 0 |
| Philippine Airlines | Order Expansion | 9 | Airbus | A350-1000 | 9 | 0 | |||
| SMBC Aviation Capital | New Order | 100 | Airbus | A321neo | 65 | 0 | A320neo | 35 | 0 |
| Bermudian | New Order | 10 | Airbus | A220-300 | 10 | 0 | |||
| Flynas | Order Expansion | 25 | Airbus | A321neo | 20 | 0 | A330-900 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | – | 154 | – | – | 112 | 0 | – | 42 | 0 |
Some Friction With Emirates For Boeing Over the 777X
However, it wasn’t all puppies and rainbows for Boeing at the Farnborough Air Show. During the week the American OEM had some significant friction and sparks flying around with one of its key clients, Emirates.
Emirates was very blunt in its comments about what it thinks Boeing should do with its first batches of Boeing 777X that have been sitting around in Everett while the aircraft is being certified.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates, suggested that they are better used as sardine cans, and that Emirates does not intend to take any of those aircraft into its fleet.
Emirates is making its intentions clear and putting them out in the open as the delivery of the first 777X might be finally getting closer. We all remember what happened with the first batches of Dreamliners and I think we’re heading towards reliving an encore of that situation.
Embraer Got Some Action For its E2 Family Too
| Airline/Firm | New Order/Option Conversion | Total Aircraft Ordered | Manufacturer | Variant | Firm Orders | Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abra Group | New Order | 20 | Embraer | E195-E2 | 20 | 25 |
| Binter | Order Expansion | 5 | Embraer | E195-E2 | 5 | |
| Luxair | Option Conversion | 3 | Embraer | E190-E2 | 3 | 1 |
Finally let’s cover Embraer which accounted for 8% of the total firm orders placed at the Farnborough Air Show 2026. Embraer is a much more niche OEM than Airbus and Boeing.
Its aircraft lineup is primarily catered to the regional air transport segment and that’s exactly the profile of client that placed orders with the Brazilian manufacturer at Farnborough 2026.