Boeing delivers 104 aircraft in 1Q2011; ATR secures large order

Boeing also confirmed Qatar Airways order for two B777s previously listed as unidentified. Qatar announced an order for five B777s – two freighters and three passenger versions – earlier this week. Shares in Boeing finished trading on Thursday up 0.8%.

ATR announced an order for 20 ATR 72-500s from UTAir. ATR is a joint venture and equal partnership between Alenia Aeronautica (a Finmeccanica company) and EADS.

EADS unit, Airbus, announced its assembly line for the A320 in Tianjin will deliver 36 A320 aircraft in 2011 to Chinese airlines. Airbus China President Laurence Barron has stated the manufacturer is not worried about the slow pick-up of the A380 by Chinese airlines as they "historically have not been very enthusiastic about buying a product early in the programme" and "it will take some time for the Chinese airlines to really understand what a great aircraft it is". China Southern Airlines is the only Chinese airline to have ordered the A380 so far and has five on order. The carrier expects to take delivery of the first A380 in Aug-2011. EADS shares finished 1.2% higher.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings announced it intends to commence a public secondary offering of 10.3 million shares of class A common stock. The company will not receive any proceeds from the offering. The shares are being offered primarily by affiliates of Onex Corporation and members of management of the company. Onex is expected to maintain voting control of the company following this offering. Morgan Stanley are acting as underwriters for the offering. The underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the offered amount of the class A common stock sold.

Selected Aerospace daily share price movements (% change): 07-Apr-2011