EUROPEAN aircraft manufacturer Airbus and its American competitor Boeing will renew their rivalry when they go head to head at the world’s largest air show at Farnborough next week.

Both companies will be displaying their newest planes, but while Airbus’s A380 superjumbo is expected to make daily flight displays, Boeing will simply fly a test 787 Dreamliner to the show in Hampshire and park it until it is time to fly out again.

The American aircraft, largely made of composite materials and lightweight alloys, will be making its first flight outside the United States.

Tom Downey, senior vice-president, Boeing Communications, said: “Bringing the 787 to Farnborough for thousands in our industry to see for the first time is another exciting historical milestone for this game-changing new airplane.”

Boeing currently has five Boeing 787s in flight tests and a sixth in production. It has said it still intends to deliver the first 787, to All Nippon Airways, by the end of this year.

It is unlikely big orders for either aircraft will be announced at Farnborough, although analysts warned against pessimism.

Airline writer Tony Dixon said: “No one was expecting Emirates to announce an order for 32 more A380s when it did just that at ILA (Berlin Airshow) in May. We know airlines are talking to the manufacturers all the time, so there may be a few surprises.”

There could be an announcement about the Airbus A350, the firm’s answer to the 787. Production of A350 wings is due to start at Airbus’s Broughton site, near Chester, next year.

Next week’s Farnborough show will to an extent be overshadowed by the ongoing rows between the manufacturers, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and respective government agencies and a massive £25bn order for 179 tanker aircraft for the US Air Force.

Airbus will have to wait until September to learn if the WTO dispute resolution panel will come out against subsidies Boeing allegedly receives from the US government. The panel was due to issue its preliminary findings this week, the first formal word on the case the European Union has filed against the USA but this was again delayed.