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A joyed way to start the Paris Air Show, with the biggest of them all, the Airbus A380, assembled in France. The A380 has had a host of technical problems, but Airbus says, the production delays that followed are behind it now.

We have learnt a lot of lessons. And you could be sure that we will take care of that.

Qatar Airways is betting 16 billion dollars on that promise. It’s committed to buying 18 of Airbus’s next generation of a smaller plane, the A350. Qatar now is the single largest customer for a plane which has had its own problems. It’s been redesigned several times, pushing back deliveries for at least another six years. Boeing’s offered that 787dreamline will be unveiled next month.

Qatar says the delay means that A350 will be even more advanced and will give Airbus time to deliver on what it’s promised.

It is their reputation online, and they can really not screw up with this project.

That was echoed by US Airways, it was looking closely at buying the A350’s competitor the Boeing 787. But in the end, US Airways chose the slightly bigger A350, even though they will not get any of the planes until 2014.

In the end, the deal, it reflects the ability for US Airways to earn profits with the aircraft.

Though many of the orders announced this week replace or repackage previous orders.

This is an important air show for Airbus. It had a couple of years of just bad luck, press wise, internal operation’s wealth, and also gave A380, 350. They need to come out strong out this air show. And so what they’ve done is repackage some orders that had been expected to make sure they have a good press day.

On Monday, Airbus says it announced 339 orders, probably more that 45 billion dollars, and that was just the first day.

Airbus has certainly stowed on the show when it comes to the sheer amount of orders announced on the first day. But to be fair, Boeing has kept a low profile. It doesn’t have a lot to prove at the moment. And Airbus certainly has a long way to go to catch up.

Jim Boulden, CNN, at the Paris Air Show.