An engine deal from Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways worth more than $5 billion could be the biggest news to come from this week's Paris Air Show, where the global recession has frozen sales of planes from Airbus or Boeing Co.

Etihad's deal for 123 engines from GE Aviation on Tuesday stemmed from orders for Airbus and Boeing planes it made last year and stole the headlines from the planemakers.

Etihad CEO James Hogan said the deal included 78 engines from GE to power Boeing 787s and 45 engines to go on Airbus A380 superjumbos from the Engine Alliance, a joint venture between GE and United Technologies Corp. unit Pratt & Whitney.

Airbus and Boeing were riding high at the last Paris show, in 2007, when orders topped 2,700 planes for the year, yet Airbus arrived in Paris this week with a 2009 total of just 11 and Boeing had none.

Airlines faced with falling demand and tight credit are cancelling and deferring orders as fast as planemakers can book new ones.

Airbus sales boss John Leahy put on a brave face on Tuesday, sticking with a target of 300 orders for the year after Vietnam Airlines said it would buy 16 A321 single-aisle jets and signed a tentative deal for two A350s, which would take the deal's value to $1.9 billion.

"Of course, the figure could be less, but I'm keeping this target," Leahy said.

Boeing's commercial planes marketing chief Randy Tinseth told Reuters Television: "It's clearly a very difficult time for our airline customers in the light of the worldwide recession. We're working closely with them to better understand their needs and wants."    

Tinseth said the still tight credit markets were not expected to hit its delivery target of 480-485 planes this year but stopped short of forecasting for 2010.

 "It doesn't look like we'll have any deliveries delayed or cancelled as a result of airlines not being able to get funding or the price of that funding," Tinseth said, but added there was "a lot of volatility and uncertainty" in the future. - Reuters