Airbus Group NV introduced an upgraded version of its A330 passenger jet Monday on the opening day of the Farnborough air show, betting that its airline customers have turned conservative.

After years of counting on game-changing new aircraft that have been slow to yield returns after delays developing new technology, plane makers and their customers are embracing small, incremental updates that bolster the top line more quickly.

"The market is changing, the priorities are different," said Fabrice Brégier, the head of Airbus's commercial-plane unit. Airbus underscored the trend by launching the A330neo, or new engine option. The new model upgrades the company's most popular twin-aisle jet, and will be equipped with a Rolls Royce Holdings PLC engine that Airbus says will yield a 14% improvement in fuel efficiency.

It is expected to be the biggest launch of the show. Airplane lessor Air Lease Corp. said it would buy 25 of the jets, an order valued at US$6.9 billion at list price, though buyers typically get large discounts. More commitments are expected Tuesday. The A330neo will be in customers' hands by the end of 2017, Airbus said.

The evolution of the jet, which made its debut in the early 1990s, is an extension of Airbus's strategy to refine existing products in favor of developing new ones. It embraced that concept with the A320, when it decided an engine upgrade was a smarter course than building a new plane. That decision has been successful, giving Airbus an order book of more than 2,600 for that model.

Smaller programs that use new engines are intended to cost less and yield a faster return than efforts to develop all-new jets, allowing plane makers to keep investing in upgrades. Since the A320 engine upgrade began, Airbus has redesigned the cabin to fit more passengers and started working on other enhancements.

"One thing is true in this industry, we are seeing more product evolution at a faster pace," said John Plueger, Air Lease's president.

Speed is important to airlines. Rather than waiting nearly a decade for a plane that is significantly more efficient, they would rather bank smaller savings at faster intervals to lift earnings.

Boeing Co. executives said they are skeptical of their rival's new offering, and said their 787 Dreamliner is a more efficient plane. "I don't want to sit here and bash the A330neo. That's not worth it," said Ray Conner, chief executive of Boeing's commercial-airplane unit. "We're going to let the market decide and we're going to compete. Every market segment we're more efficient. And I think that's what the customers are looking for."

Still, Boeing has adopted a similarly incremental strategy. This week, it said it would boost the seat count on its most popular 737 single-aisle model to give airlines a further 5% per-seat efficiency gain. That comes on top of a plan to upgrade the jet with new engines due in 2017, cutting fuel consumption 14%. Similarly, Boeing used the air show to introduce a stretch version of its 787 Dreamliner this year with another planned for 2018.

But that came only after its experience developing the Dreamliner. Boeing originally believed that the 787 would be able to provide its fuel-sipping technology faster and more cheaply through a business model that was aimed at distributing risk and capital investments across a disparate supply chain. That program went billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

Airbus has had its own significant misstep. Its A380 super jumbo was years late and billions of dollars over cost. The plane still has failed to become profitable, and new orders are few.

Airbus doesn't dispute Boeing's claim that the Dreamliner burns less fuel. Yet, by taking an existing airplane and limiting the upgrades to new engines and small aerodynamic tweaks, the European plane maker believes it can develop the upgrade for less than EUR2 billion (US$2.7 billion) and offset the 787's advantage with a steeper price discount.

"The A330neo is a new airplane with all the bells and whistles of an A350 and a 787, but for the airline CEO and CFO, we just reduced the capital costs 25%" said John Leahy, Airbus's chief jet salesman.

Airbus's approach isn't driven just by trying to serve airlines. The A330, which Airbus builds at a record rate of 10 per month, has been a big profit contributor for the company. Reinvigorating the plane could keep that revenue stream alive through 2030, as Airbus says it can book more than 1,000 orders.

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