The European plane becomes the best-selling aircraft across the planet, facing its major historical American competitor Boeing.
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This is a matter of just a few units, but enough for the European aeronautical manufacturer to beat its great historic American competitor. Concretely, at the end of September, since they existed, Airbus delivered 12,257 copies of its A320 compared to 12,254 for the Boeing 737. Three copies make the difference but that is enough to score points in favor of Airbus.
The two devices have always been neck and neck on the international market, without having the same age. They are 20 years apart. The first Boeing 737 was delivered in 1968, the Airbus A320 entered service in 1988. Since their first flight, both families of aircraft have undergone significant updates, particularly in terms of engines and their components. First to reduce their fuel consumption, then their noise impact.
But this is not enough to explain the commercial difference in favor of Airbus. Economic circumstances also played a big role. Boeing 737 deliveries abruptly halted for nearly two years worldwide after two horrific 737 Max crashesin 2018 and 2019. Two crashes which caused a total of 346 deaths among passengers of Lion Air and EgyptAir. It’s difficult to recover after such an ordeal, especially since a few in-flight mechanical incidents followed and led the American air regulator to slow down production rates.
Can Airbus take advantage of the situation to get even further ahead of its American rival? The misfortune of one person does not make the happiness of others. Airbus knows this very well and does not play in this area, because a deteriorating economic situation can call everything into question overnight for all stakeholders.
But the figures are there: the European aircraft manufacturer has the wind in its sails. It has also just strengthened its infrastructure in Toulouse, and will expand its factories and test areas by 18 hectares, by 2028. This involves monitoring the increase in orders and therefore the manufacturing of aircraft, in particular the A321 and the A350. Airbus today has an order book of close to 9,000 planes from airlines around the world, the equivalent of 10 years of work. All this in an increasingly competitive context with the rise in power in particular of the Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac or the Brazilian Embraer.
