Airline industry fact of the day

From the Times,

The total backlog of unfilled orders for Boeing and Airbus stands at more than 12,000 aircraft, valued at close to $2 trillion and enough to keep their assembly lines humming for more than eight years.

But Boeing and Airbus, which each control nearly half the market for planes with more than 100 seats, are struggling to keep their order pipelines flowing as falling oil prices makes it increasingly profitable for airlines to continue with their fuel-guzzling older planes and defer replacements.