Boeing and Airbus chiefs in green embrace

FARNBOROUGH (Reuters) - Airbus (EAD.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) chiefs hugged on Wednesday in a fleeting show of unity over the environment, even as they battled at the world's biggest air show for aircraft orders.

Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders and Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Scott Carson shared a platform as the industry defended its record on the environment at the Farnborough Airshow.

The companies are locked in a trade war over subsidies as well as a $35 billion (17.5 billoin pounds) contest to supply converted jetliners to the Pentagon as refuelling planes, but are anxious to display unity over air travel's impact on the climate.

Egged on by the moderator of a debate on the issue, ex-paratrooper Enders and the avuncular Boeing veteran Carson made a seemingly uncomfortable attempt to be jovial by putting their arms around each other, prompting awkward grins.

"Tom and I embracing on this topic is appropriate. It's a topic of vital importance," Carson said.

The two planemakers and their engine suppliers are under increasing pressure to develop more fuel efficient products for airline customers struggling to cope with the high cost of kerosene resulting from record oil prices.

Both Boeing and Airbus say their planes are being designed to make steep cuts in carbon emissions, but environmentalists say the aviation industry is not doing enough.

"This issue has made us better friends as we learn from each other," Carson said of Boeing and Airbus earlier in the week.

At an aviation and environmental summit in Geneva earlier this year, Carson and Enders signed an agreement to work together on reducing the environmental impact of aviation.