Toby Melville | ReutersFARNBOROUGH, England — Massive airplane orders, hundreds deep in recent years, were absent from this year's biggest air show. One standout was Air Korea's order for up to 50 Boeing wide-body planes, including the 777X, which Boeing is working toward getting certified by regulators. As both manufacturers grapple with production strains, Air Korea CEO Walter Cho quipped during the Boeing order signing: "Whichever comes first will become our flagship, whoever's on time." Boeing has an overall backlog of close to 5,500 planes, while Airbus has more than 8,000 on order. Many airlines from United Airlines to Air India have also stocked up on new jet orders as travel rebounded in the pandemic.

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Persons: Toby Melville, Ihssane Mounir, Boeing's, Walter Cho, whoever's, Peter Anderson, Matthew Childs, Christian Scherer, Scherer Organizations: Airbus, Farnborough, Reuters, Boeing, Wall Street, Paris Air, Ishka, Air, Max, Airbus A321neo, United Airlines, Air India, The Boeing Company, AerCap, Reuters Airbus Locations: Farnborough, Britain, Reuters FARNBOROUGH, England, London, Paris, Air Korea, Arlington , Virginia