A memorandum of understanding for 50 Airbus A320neo aircraft signed by leasing company CIT on Tuesday took total commitments for the new re-engined plane family to 544, Airbus' sales chief said. We said earlier this year that we would get 500 commitments by the end of the Paris Air Show, John Leahy told Reuters at the show. We got there three days early.

An industry source told Reuters that Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was also set to announce orders for 25 A320neo planes worth around $2.1 billion at list prices at the air show.

(Matthias Blamont; Editing by James Regan)