In an interview with the Seattle Times, Leahy recounted how he got Northwest Airlines, a loyal Boeing customer, to buy Airbus in 1986.
Leahy went with a strategy called "Buy small, think big" in which he told Northwest it could order just 10 A320s but receive the bulk discount of a 100 plane order. However, Leahy also told Northwest it would reserve delivery dates for 100 planes in case it wanted more.
And if Northwest didn't like the A320s, it's simply stuck with 10 planes while Airbus absorbs the risk for the rest.
The strategy worked. Northwest really liked the Airbus.
"They didn't just take 100, I think they got up to 145," Leahy told the Times.