After booking about half of the 197 firm sales unveiled at last month’s Farnborough Airshow, the latest data from Airbus and Boeing shows that the former has virtually closed the gap with Boeing in their intense battle for airliner orders in July.

It had sold a total of 373 jets between January and July, or 323 after adjusting for cancellations, said the European planemaker amid a broad slowdown in purchases.

On the other hand U.S. rival Boeing sold 383 airplane or 333 after cancellations.

Weighed by concerns over the economy and relatively low oil prices, which have taken the edge off demand for new fuel-saving models, the combined orders at the world’s dominant planemakers fell 17 percent from the same period last year.

Industry experts said that in a market that is seen as somewhat oversupplied with jets, especially larger wide-body models, both planemakers are struggling to book new sales. Questions about whether the companies will maintain plans to boost output later this decade have been raised due to the slowdown. While insisting the trend of postponements is stable, both have also faced a slew of order deferrals in recent weeks.

The deferral of about 25 Airbus jets is being weighed by Indonesia’s Lion Air, one of the largest jet buyers with hundreds on order from Boeing and Airbus, two industry sources said.

Airbus declined comment and Lion Air was not available.

Announced in a shower of publicity at Farnborough details of an order for 100 more planes from Lion Air’s regional rival AirAsia was also hammered out by Airbus.

With 380 net orders for the year to date including the AirAsia deal, which it described as a firm order, Airbus had looked set to end the Farnborough Airshow, after a slow start to the year.

An Airbus spokesman said paperwork was being finalized, however the deal did not make it into the new tally. A person close to the talks said this only involved tying up loose ends. Another order secured at the height of an industry boom in 2012 had been trimmed back, suggests the latest Airbus data. According to the monthly update five of 40 A320neo jets it has on order have been cancelled by Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet. Without giving further details, an airline spokeswoman said the change was part of an “operational swap”. Amid a weak economy, consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level in Mexico which can be one of the reasons for the cancellation.

Handing over 432 jets between January and July, Boeing maintains a solid lead on deliveries which drive revenues even as it remains ahead by a whisker in the race for new orders.

Due in part to a shortage of Pratt & Whitney engines for its newly revamped A320neo, Airbus delivery was down 4 percent on the year and delivered 339 jets between January and July. Including two powered by Pratt & Whitney and the first to be delivered with alternative engines from CFM International, it delivered just three of those jets in July.

A350s is another model suffering delays due in part to problems with suppliers and so far this year it has delivered 11 A320neos and 15 of its widebody A350s. It aims to deliver 50 A350s this year.

(Adapted from Reuters)

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