LE BOURGET, France, June 18: Circling fighter jets were just a sideshow on Monday to the blitz of new orders for Airbus on the first day of the Paris Air Show, as the European plane maker scrambled to repair its battered image.

Airbus sales director John Leahy said the company had booked firm orders or letters of intent to order for 339 aircraft on Monday, a record figure, for a value of $45.7 billion at catalogue prices.

This year’s event comes at a critical time for the company, which was hit by a series of production and management problems in 2006 and has fallen behind US rival Boeing in the battle for new business.

Wealthy Middle Eastern carriers were some of the biggest clients, with Qatar Airways, Dubai-based Emirates and Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways all announcing new orders for Airbus planes.

Emirates, already the single biggest client for the superjumbo A380 with 43 on order, said it had ordered another eight of the giant aircraft, a sign of confidence despite delays of almost two years in deliveries of the plane.

Elsewhere, US Airways announced it had signed a letter of intent for a vast order of 92 Airbus aircraft, while several plane leasing companies and Russian group S7 announced deals for the single-aisled A320 family of planes.

The week-long Paris Air Show sees Airbus and Boeing, the world’s biggest manufacturers of civilian aircraft, go head-to-head in a commercial and marketing contest.—AFP