Jan 11, 2022: As per a Reuters report, Airbus retained its crown as the world’s largest jet maker for the third year in a row as it surpassed Boeing in delivering 611 jets in 2021, up 8% from the previous year, company figures show.
These numbers give Airbus an invincible lead over revenue-generating deliveries – a key industry standard. Boeing delivered 302 jets in the first 11 months. After a decline in production, mainly due to pandemic, aircraft makers are seeing a growing demand for medium-range passenger planes and cargo planes, despite global concerns over Omicron.
Airbus said it sold 771 airplanes in 2021, giving a net total of 507 after cancellations, almost twice the 2020 level.
Reuters reported last week that Airbus’ auditors, who must validate each delivery, were torn between a tally of 605 or 611 jets after last-minute handovers took the total above an official target of 600. The outcome confirms the top end of the range.
Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury called this the “first fruits of a recovery” and added: “Demand is real”.
Meanwhile Boeing is recovering more slowly, dealing with the damage caused by the 737 max safety crisis and overcoming obstacles to the supply of its wide-body 787 Dreamliner. Recent changes in accounting rules and the sharp swing in the airline’s fortunes during the COVID-19 crisis have made it difficult to compare the core performance of the two major aircraft operators.
With Airbus Delivery far ahead, the winner of new orders depends on what accounting definition investors prefer for net orders when Boeing releases data on Tuesday.
Based on partial 2021 data, Boeing looks set to at least match Airbus on net orders on an adjusted basis after a recent deal with Allegiant for 50 737 MAX that surfaced last week. For the first 11 months of 2021, orders rebounded sharply to 829 planes but fell to a net total of 400 after cancellations.
On an adjusted basis, Boeing posted 457 net orders by the end of November after partially restoring its count orders, which at one point was unlikely to materialize. With the exception of surprising new orders, Airbus data shows that Boeing is having a difficult time matching its traditional competitors in net orders on an unadjusted basis.
Airbus starts 2022 with some momentum. Recent orders from Air France-KLM and Qantas are yet to be counted. It reported new sales of 22 A220 small aircraft to Florida-based leasing firm Azorra on Monday.
Boeing dominates freight growth as lockdown promotes e-shopping. Airbus had booked the first order for a new A350 cargo plane – albeit in part by converting existing orders of the passenger version to cargo planes. Faury said the production plans for the widebody A350 were not affected by the dispute with Qatar Airways over existing jet aircraft surface issues.
Airbus expects to decide in the middle of the year whether it will make the most of existing jets, despite resistance from leasing companies and engine makers. Like Boeing, Airbus practices accounting to indicate the possibility of some aircraft not being delivered. But this applies to the value of aggregate orders once a year, rather than to the number of aircraft affected.
While analysts say that adopting a Boeing-like approach would reduce the number of net orders for Airbus compared to the 507 published in 2021, the extent of the difference is unclear.
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