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Boeing Co. said commercial orders will pick up by 2012, after dropping to the lowest level since 1994 last year, as an economic recovery boosts air-travel demand and airlines return to profit.

"We’re starting to see the economy turn around after a really difficult year last year in terms of traffic," Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s marketing chief, said. Growth in travel and cargo shipments this year will translate into airline profits and "then we can start to see an increase in demand for new airplanes in 2012," he said.

Boeing had 142 net orders last year after 121 cancellations, the Chicago-based company said in a statement Thursday. That’s the fewest since 125 orders in 1994, according to spokesman Jim Proulx. The total also trails the 194 that rival Airbus SAS reported as of Nov. 30.

Boeing’s orders fell from 662 in 2008, when Airbus had 777, and from a record high of 1,413 in 2007.

"On a gross-order basis we’re probably in the same ballpark, but clearly we had challenges with some of our programs," with 83 cancellations for the delayed 787 Dreamliner, Tinseth said. The two rivals have generally split the market in the past few years and "I don’t see any major trends in terms of orders this year," he said easy online payday loans.

Airbus also kept the lead in deliveries, which are when planemakers get the bulk of payments. Boeing said it delivered 481 planes in 2009, while Airbus shipped 498, according to a person familiar with the Toulouse, France-based company’s production who declined to be identified because its figures won’t be released until Tuesday. Airbus has held the lead every year since 2003.

Boeing’s deliveries in 2009 rose from 375 in 2008, when factories had been shuttered during a two-month strike by machinists. Even with the recession, Boeing and Airbus combined built a record number of aircraft last year as the long lead time for jets and the threat of penalties for last-minute cancellations protected manufacturing rates.

Both companies are scaling back now to better match demand after airlines pushed back hundreds of delivery dates because of the global economic crisis.

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