Boeing, Airbus brace for slowdown

The unprecedented jetliner shopping spree that's spanned more than a decade is drawing to a close.

That's bad news for Boeing and Airbus Group, which face slowing jet sales and the highest level of airplane-delivery deferrals in at least 15 years. Final 2016 tallies to be unveiled over the next few days probably will show aircraft orders trailing shipments, a sign of a weakening market.

Airline profits are poised to fall from last year's peak, with even Persian Gulf juggernauts Emirates and Etihad Airways tempering growth.

Unlike past retrenchments triggered by terrorism or recession, demand also has been hurt by the relatively low cost of fuel. While oil has risen in the past year, prices are hovering at about $50 a barrel, half of what they were in mid-2014.

That gives airlines less incentive to retire older jetliners or order newer, more efficient models.

The glut of jets is sapping interest in wide-body planes and threatening production increases that Boeing and Airbus have plotted over the next two years for the lucrative 737 and A320 families of single-aisle aircraft.

With last week's revelation that Emirates is postponing a dozen Airbus A380 superjumbos, the total number of delivery delays for the year reached 251, the most since at least 2001, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

'It's not that the sky is falling, but we are definitely late in the cycle,” said Ron Epstein, an analyst at Bank of America Corp.

So far, planemakers have been able to find other takers for production slots that have been vacated as carriers such as United Continental and Southwest Airlines postpone deliveries and scan the secondary market for bargains.