Airbus has led in aircraft deliveries for the past four years, with the most substantial difference in 2019 due to the B737 MAX grounding. Covid-19 hit both manufacturers equally in 2020. In total, Airbus delivered 676 aircraft in 2022, while Boeing delivered 480.
The large jet airliner market has been considered a duopoly between Boeing and Airbus since the 1990s, but decades into the fight, Airbus is the clear victor. Boeing lost billions of dollars and years of sales when the 737 MAX airplanes were grounded due to a pair of crashes, putting it far behind Airbus.
An Airbus A321XLR Neo passenger aircraft performs a flying display at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, Paris, France, on June 19.
For one, the Airbus A380 has almost double the space onboard compared to the Boeing 777 series, thanks to its second level. This means the airline can afford to be a little more abundant with its first class and business class offerings onboard the A380 compared to the Triple Seven.
Against Boeing's net orders of 774, Airbus finished ahead in 2022 with 820 net orders. In anticipation of Boeing's progress in the fourth quarter, the stock market has already boosted the share price in an expectation that Boeing might finally be on the way back.
Airbus emphasizes commonality across its aircraft models, meaning that pilots can more easily transition between different Airbus aircraft. This approach benefits airlines by reducing training time and costs. Boeing's aircraft, in contrast, have more variation in cockpit design and systems.
Do pilots prefer Boeing or Airbus? Pilots will always differ in opinion. The general feeling is that Airbus aircraft on the narrowbodies (A320 etc) are slightly more comfortable in terms of space in the flight deck than a 737 for example.
Safety is the priority for airlines. Airlines are sensitive to passengers' perceptions of safety, having randomly assigned the Boeing 737 Max to routes and times. Historically, Boeing has been considered more reliable and safer than Airbus.
The Airbus A380 can reach speeds of more than 1,000 kilometres per hour! Now the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (907 km/h) and Boeing 777 (905 km/h) aren't that fast, but still three times faster than a Formula 1 racing car. See below the speeds of the most common aircraft on Schiphol.
This means that, for example, while the 737 and 747 are both Boeing aircraft, pilots cannot simply jump between the two without obtaining the necessary type rating. In conclusion, at face value, Airbus and Boeing pilots cannot legally fly each other's aircraft.
The successive Airbus wins in the closely followed annual race for deliveries come after decades of Boeing's almost-uninterrupted dominance of the commercial aircraft market. That was upended after the twin crashes of its 737 MAX jets, which pushed the company into the biggest crisis in its history.
The primary reason that the European planemaker was able to overtake its US rival was because of Boeing's 737 MAX debacle. Instead of a new iteration of the world's most successful jet, Boeing's deliveries came to a near-standstill and caused a huge hole in the manufacturer's budget.
The largest Airbus customer in the US is US Airways, with a fleet of 263 A320 aircraft, including 121 A321s. They, of course, merged with American Airlines in 2015, and together with American's 144 A320 aircraft makes the largest fleet globally.
Since the beginning of the jet era, Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division has built and delivered close to 20,000 aircraft. It currently has orders for nearly another 6,000, and almost half of all the world's jetliner fleet today is made up of Boeing-built planes.
Therefore, the ERJ135/140/145 members of the family are among the safest airliners in history. The Airbus A340 is also one of the safest, with no fatal accidents involving any of the 380 units since its introduction in March 1993.
According to experts, the model (737-800) is considered to be the safest aircraft ever made. The 737-800 belongs to the aviation giant's next-generation aircraft which also includes 600, 700, and 900.
People often ask me how they get more room when they fly, and my general rule is this: since they largely have wider seats, Airbus planes almost always give you more space than Boeing planes.
No matter how airlines configure their cabins, the Airbus A380 pushes the 747 right out of the gate with passenger capacity. In a full economy configuration, the A380 can handle 250 more passengers than the 747.
The distinctive brown colour of the Boeing 100 was inspired by a cockpit colour often used in the older Boeing aircraft called 'Boeing Brown' which was reportedly designed to make the cockpits more relaxing to be in.
Large-scale projects and complexity: Airbus's involvement in large-scale projects, such as the development and production of new aircraft models, can result in significant cost overruns, delays, and technical challenges. These complexities can impact the company's financial performance and reputation.
Emirates operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft, and is one of the few airlines to operate an all-wide-body aircraft fleet (excluding Emirates Executive). As of March 2023, Emirates is the largest Airbus A380 operator with 119 aircraft in service, and with one aircraft having been retired.
Airbus: Easier to land smoothly, but fly-by-wire logic makes crosswind landings a challenge. Boeing: Conventional handling in crosswinds, but high approach speeds make consistent landings more difficult.