Airbus ended the Dubai Airshow with 163 firm orders valued at over USD$28 billion at list prices, the European planemaker said on Wednesday.
Airbus had said on Tuesday it expected at least 290 orders from the show, where its battle with Boeing has dominated some USD$85 billion in announcements this week.
Both companies expect a record year, but Airbus says its orders at Dubai have helped push it ahead of Boeing.
"We're having a record year, Boeing is having a record year," said Airbus sales boss John Leahy. "It looks like quite the record show. It's 290 orders, over half of which are firm. The others will be firm within 30 days," he told reporters.
The show, which ends on Thursday, has already dwarfed the total of USD$21 billion in new business announced when last held in 2005 and has put Dubai among the world's biggest aerospace events alongside shows at Paris, and Farnborough in England.
Sales figures are in list prices which conceal discounts that are an industry norm, but the sheer number of aircraft involved for both companies indicate 2007 will be their busiest year ever.
Airbus said the intake at Dubai had boosted it above Boeing this week in their battle for annual orders, a race Boeing won in 2006 for the first time in six years. At the end of September, Boeing was leading 903 to 854.
High crude oil prices are helping sales of new, more fuel efficient models such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
Both planemakers are also seeing strong demand from surging new markets, including Gulf Arab states.
That growth was demonstrated on Sunday when Airbus and Boeing split an order from Dubai-based airline Emirates potentially worth USD$35 billion -- an industry record.
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, formed less than two years ago, said on Monday it would buy 100 planes each from Boeing and Airbus worth over USD$26 billion as it launches a new aircraft leasing company from scratch.
The Middle East's largest low-cost carrier, Air Arabia, along with Saudi Arabian Airlines and Oman Air have announced deals for Airbus planes worth a combined USD$6 billion this week.
On Tuesday, Airbus added a USD$2 billion order with Yemen's Yemenia for 10 A350 XWB planes and one for 8 single-aisle A320s from Pakistan's Airblue worth about USD$520 million.
Such demand has put the Dubai Air Show among the world's top aerospace events. The Paris show in June was also surprisingly large, with Airbus announcing deals for 425 planes versus 81 for Boeing.
Airbus is typically more likely than Boeing to save up announcements for air shows. The US company announced a USD$5.2 billion order from Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific last week, for example.
Tom Enders, chief executive of Airbus, told reporters that in addition to winning new customers, the planemaker needed to focus on delivering its products on time and on budget as it recovers from the costly delay of its A380 superjumbo.
That delay and a weak dollar have triggered the company's Power8 cost savings drive, which parent firm EADS said last week would have to get even tougher to address the dollar's recent further decline.
