But There's A Lot Of Time Left

We're still over a year away from the next presidential election in the United States... but that hasn't stopped leading candidates from touting the number of voters they've swayed to their campaigns. It is with similar logic that Boeing announced Thursday the company has a healthy lead over rival Airbus, for orders garnered during the first three months of 2007.

Reuters reports Boeing raked in 189 orders through the end of March, compared to 134 for the European planemaker. Boeing received a 119-order surge in March -- 12 more than Boeing was able to take in during March of 2006.

So far, Boeing has also sold more jets in 2007 than throughout the first three months of 2006. At the end of March 2006, Boeing had earned 176 jet orders; the company went on to post a record 1,044 net orders for 2006.

No one is saying -- at least publicly -- Boeing will repeat last year's impressive performance. In the past, Airbus has waited to announce large orders during major airshows, such as the Paris Air Show coming up in June.

And despite efforts by Boeing to speed up production, Airbus still claimed more deliveries for the first three months of the year, compared to Boeing. Airbus delivered 115 planes through March; Boeing, 106.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.boeing.com