Qatar Airways has placed an order for 24 A320 jets, Airbus, the European aircraft maker announced at the Paris Air Show. The list price of the planes is $1.84 billion, but airlines usually get discounts, especially in times of recession.

Its biggest deal for A350 jets with a list price of $2.4 billion is with Air Asia while Vietnam Airlines and Cebu Pacific have also ordered new aircraft.

The orders have placed the Europe-based Airbus well ahead of US rival Boeing in the race to sign deals at the air show.

Speaking about the Air Asia order, Airbus boss Tom Enders said the orders were proof that there are some rays of sunshine in the market especially in the low-cost sector.

Vietnam Airlines' 16 A321 medium-haul planes are worth $1.4 billion at list price and the airlines has pledged to order two additional long-haul A350s. Cebu Pacific, the Philippines-based carrier has ordered five A320 planes.

The orders mean that Airbus will be meeting its target of 300 aircraft orders this year, according to Airbus sales chief John Leahy. He added, however that the figure could be less but he was keeping the 300 figure as a target.

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates' airline Etihad Airways has inked an engine and maintenance deal with US conglomerate GE exceeding $5billion.

Also the Spanish airline Air Nostrum has reportedly ordered 10 regional turboprop planes from aircraft maker ATR.

Orders are expected to be slow in coming at the show, as many airlines delay existing orders with air traffic taking a hit in the downturn.

However, Spanish airline Air Nostrum, has confirmed an order for 35 Bombardier CRJ-1000 jets, listed at $1.75billion. The deal had been announced earlier by the company but it had not disclosed the customer at that time.

Another development has seen aerospace giant Rolls Royce inking a $1.5billion deal to supply and maintain engines for 20 Airbus A330 aircraft in Bahrain-based Gulf Air's fleet.

Hungarian airline Malev has said it has signed a letter of intent for 30 Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. The deal is worth around $1billion it added.

Meanwhile, Boeing has said it was not expecting substantial orders at the show as the company did not save orders for the air shows, according to Scott Carson, head of commercial aircraft.

At the same time airlines are not cancelling existing orders either, as it might mean falling behind rivals once an economic recovery got underway.

According to Carson a recovery could be expected when the show returned to Farmborough next June.

He added the freefall had stalled.

In the difficult economic situation, both Boeing and rival aircraft maker Airbus have been forced to help airlines buy their planes by way extending assistance in raising finance.