Boeing Keeps Low Profile at Paris Air Show as Airbus Announces Deals

Every other year, thousands of visitors flock to a Paris suburb for the Paris Air Show, one of the aerospace industry’s biggest events. The atmosphere is typically celebratory, but the recent deadly crash of an Air India flight cast a shadow over the show this week.

The contrasting moods were apparent in the rivalry between two of the show’s most prominent aircraft manufacturers: Airbus and Boeing. Airbus said it had withheld some announcements, but still promoted a wave of orders for new commercial jets. Boeing kept an unusually low profile, reporting no deals. The company said it had canceled some plans out of respect for those killed in the crash of Air India Flight 171 last week, which involved one of its 787 Dreamliner jets.

The cause of the crash, in which at least 270 people died in the plane and on the ground, has yet to be determined. But it comes at a delicate moment for Boeing, which had appeared to be moving past a series of setbacks in recent years. The company reported nearly 350 orders last month, some of which were part of a trade deal between the United States and Britain. That made May Boeing’s best month for sales in a year and a half. Boeing also reached a crucial production target last month for its most popular plane, the 737 Max.

At the show, held at Le Bourget Airport, companies show off their products and executives negotiate deals in back rooms. The long, hot days are punctuated by the roar of commercial and military jets flying overhead, attracting crowds of onlookers.

Boeing’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, and the head of its commercial plane unit, Stephanie Pope, were scheduled to attend, but canceled their plans to “be with our team, and focus on our customer and the investigation,” Mr. Ortberg wrote in a message to employees after the crash.

The company was still in attendance, but it made no major announcements, even though it might have been preparing some deals privately in the weeks before the show. In a building where Boeing hosted meetings with customers and suppliers, bouquets of red and white roses were placed in the entry halls alongside a silver-framed homage that read: “Honoring those affected by Air India Flight 171.”