Airbus leads Boeing on first-half orders, behind on deliveries

PARIS (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA) beat its U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) on orders in the first half of this year, after a tight contest at last month's Paris Airshow, but remained behind on deliveries, data showed on Monday.

Airbus said it had won orders for 382 aircraft in the first six months of the year and delivered 304 planes to customers.

After cancellations and conversions between models, net orders totalled 348 aircraft, it said.

Boeing said it had won orders for 325 aircraft during the period, or a net total of 281 after the same adjustments.

It delivered 381 aircraft in the first half, maintaining a lead over Airbus on the main driver for short-term revenues.

At the Paris Airshow, Airbus lagged Boeing in firm orders but upstaged its rival with a last-minute $14 billion provisional order for 100 planes from Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air (WIZZ.L).

Airbus reported 124 firm plane orders worth $16.3 billion (10.43 billion pounds) at the June 15-21 event, as well as 297 commitments worth $40.7 billion.

Boeing (BA.N) reported 154 firm plane orders worth $20.2 billion at the show, plus 177 commitments worth $30 billion.

The Airbus order summary for June showed that half of the orders for six planes placed by Tunisian carrier Syphax Airlines had been cancelled, highlighting challenges facing the country's tourism sector even before last month's deadly hotel attack in the resort of Sousse.

Formed months after the Tunisian revolution in 2011, the private airline was once hailed as a rare Arab Spring success story. It has more recently run into difficulties, forcing 25-percent owner Telnet Holding (TLNET.TN) to take a charge on its investment, and its shares (SPHAX.TN) have been suspended since November last year.

An Airbus spokesman declined to comment further on the cancellation.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Susan Fenton)