The ongoing battle between Airbus and Boeing for supremacy of the skies continued this week as the two commercial aviation giants announced dueling billion-dollar aircraft deals.

Boeing—long the favored plane builder among airlines based on this side of the Atlantic—has struggled of late as a result of the persistent battery malfunctions that have kept its fleet of 787 Dreamliner jumbo jets grounded. Now that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved a redesign aimed at fixing the flaw, the troubled fleet is poised to retake the skies within weeks.