This is a lot of aircraft orders by one country:
From Matt Yglesias at Slate, that’s a single country’s two airlines buying 439 big jets. You won’t be surprised, then, that writers at the Dubai air show are wondering about a bubble in Persian Gulf airlines. There’s also concern about other bubbles in Dubai’s economy.
Outside of the Gulf airlines’ health, industry analysts worry about a bubble in narrow-body jets: “We believe that another bubble situation is currently developing, and will result in an oversupply of narrow-body aircraft.”
Why should you care? Because a large chunk of Boeing’s exports to foreign airlines are backed by the U.S. government (and thus you, the taxpayer) through a government agency called the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
If there is an aircraft bubble, you the taxpayer could foot some of the bill. Ex-Im takes steps to protect itself (and thus the taxpayers) from taking a bath if airlines are unable or unwilling to pay. But if the crash is bad enough, those steps may not be enough.
