Is Boeing catching up with Airbus in terms of production and sales worldwide?

Four years in the red and then starts again? Boeing executives want to believe it. The recovery of the 737 MAX seems over. Over the past four years, the American manufacturer has faced serious turbulence, between technical problems on the cabins and especially the 737 MAX which remained grounded between 2018 and 2021 due to two air disasters causing 350 deaths.

2022 was the year of the resumption of long-haul flights, which benefited the 787 Dreamliner, the hope of the group. Long-haul, synonymous with the resumption of travel (tourism and business) saw orders increase to reach 250 aircraft over the last six months.

If we stop the accounts at the end of April, the American recorded as many net orders as Airbus in civil aircraft and over the whole of the first quarter, Boeing regained the advantage on deliveries. It remains to transform the test because we are there in the first months of the year. Last year, Airbus had won, but by little, in terms of orders with 820 net orders against 808 for Boeing, which is therefore in the process of climbing the slope.

New assembly lines

Some difficulties persist but activity has clearly picked up and the challenge for the major rivals in aeronautics, on both sides of the Atlantic, is to successfully increase the pace. At Boeing, we recognize that if the order books are well filled, we will have to accelerate in the next five years to meet them. Hence the opening of new assembly lines. For reference, during the Covid crisis – added to the technical problems around the fuselages – the American group was only producing three devices per month compared to fourteen previously.

Here is a series of good news as the Paris Air Show opens its doors in two weeks. Airbus-Boeing: we can expect a good match between the two manufacturers.