Market Comment   :                                                            3

“Looking at the order book, a downturn might seem some way off.”

Orders for new large commercial jets continued to pour in during February, pushing the backlog well up yet again. So far this year there have been orders for 556 new aircraft. On the face of it, it looks as though the ordering trend has continued into 2008 but, there again, the manufacturers do not anticipate much more than half the number of 2007 aircraft orders this year. It may be a sign of the times but during March there were very few announcements of new orders from the manufacturers, which is unusual.

The Large Commercial Jet Backlog :                                  5

Twelve consecutive months of backlog growth.    

More orders than deliveries in February contributed to yet another backlog gain. This means that the backlog has increased every single month since February last year. Twelve consecutive monthly gains is something that has not happened for many years.

Large Commercial Jet Aircraft.                                           11

Our monthly order and delivery chart and table. There were orders for 253 new large commercial jets in February and 77 new aircraft were delivered.

Large Commercial Jets – Orders.                                       12

Orders may have started to dry up.

While February was a good month for the manufacturers in terms of the order intake, March may not have been quite so good. The manufacturers are usually very quick to announce new orders but there were few statements about large commercial jet orders in March. The regional aircraft manufacturers, on the other hand, had a great deal to talk about.

Orders in February.                                                             13

Recently Announced Commercial Aircraft Orders.             14

Aircraft order announcements in March of this year.

Large Commercial Jets - Deliveries.                                   17

So far it has been a good start to the year.

The January and February delivery total of 148 aircraft is more than in the same period last year. Usually there is a slow start to a new year but that has clearly not happened this time. What is very interesting is that Airbus has delivered exactly the same number of A320s and A321s each month for the last four months.

Deliveries in February.                                                       20

Current Production Rates :             

       Large Commercial Jet programs.                                     21

       Regional Aircraft programs.                                             24

Aircraft Engines.                                                                 27

Firm V2500 orders close to the firm CFM56-5 order book.

By the end of February the V2500 had a firm order book that was just 48 engines short of the CFM56-5 firm order book. The total engine requirement for all large commercial jets on firm backlog at the end of the month reached 15,170 engines and choices still have to be made for 1,322 of these. Currently the engine companies have firm orders for 13,848 large civil jet engines.

To Be Decided.                                                                   31

The list of customers and aircraft still without engine choices.

The Firm Engine Order Book.                                             32

Our tables showing all customers for different engine programs at the end of February.

Undelivered Orders - Large Commercial Jets.                    44

Our detailed table listing all customers with undelivered aircraft orders at the end of February,

including their engine choices.