The merger with Northrop Grumman has now allied Lockheed to Airbus's great rival in civil aircraft.
Only last week, for example, Boeing announced that it would make a new regional jet a move that seems designed to undermine Airbus's attempts to design an aircraft for the same market.
Exclusive deals could limit the number of potential customers for, say, Airbus's planned 550-seat aircraft, which would mean that that aeroplane (bigger and better than Boeing's jumbo) might not even come to market.
The A380 is a four-engined, twin-decked, wide-body jet aircraft built at Airbus's factories throughout Europe and assembled at its facility in Toulouse, France.
That speed is crucial for Boeing, which fell behind Airbus Industrie as the world's largest commercial aircraft maker last year.
The groundings have been a nightmare for Boeing, which competes with Airbus for the position as the world's largest commercial aircraft maker.
He favors the airline's decision to remove six seats from each of its 96 Airbus A320 aircraft to reduce the number of seats from 156 to 150.
Daimler's aircraft division, DASA, which is a partner in the Airbus consortium, also produced sparkling results, up 368% to 346m DM.
Worldwide, airlines have been slowly but steadily putting into operation two next-generation aircraft -- Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350 -- both of which have shells made heavily of composite materials, such as carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, instead of aluminium.
Airbus will overtake it in the commercial jet market, delivering 300 aircraft against Boeing's 285.
"The greatest obstacle is the refusal by the aircraft's manufacturer -- formerly British Aerospace-Aerospatiale, now Airbus -- to lend its support to a restoration, " said aviation journalist David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor of Flightglobal.com.
Among the aircraft expected at the show is the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 superjumbo.
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Meanwhile, Indonesia's low cost Lion Air has placed its first order with Airbus, asking for 234 A320 family aircraft.
Adding a little ethical salt to the wounds: Virgin added that its new partnership with Boeing would be better for the environment, since the American plane maker's 787-9 burns around 27% less fuel per passenger than the Airbus A340-300 aircraft it will replace in 2011, according to Virgin.
Boeing estimates China's fleets will quadruple in size by 2019, requiring 1, 790 new aircraft, while Airbus forecasts demand for about 1, 600 aircraft over the next 20 years.
Unlike other aircraft where the pilot's controls are manually attached to the flaps and rudders, Airbus 330 airliners are equipped with a "fly by wire" system that sends electronic signals from an onboard computer to move key control surfaces.
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