European aircraft maker Airbus has a much better financial year than its US rival Boeing. In December alone, 500 orders were placed, accounting for a record 1 880 new aircraft orders for 2023.

This makes Airbus the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer for the sixth time in a row, a position it owes mainly to its A320 NEO range of aircraft. Since 2010, Airbus says it has received orders for more than 10 000 aircraft from that range. This makes it “the most popular aircraft in the world”, it says.

New record thanks to A321 neo flagship

With orders for more than 1 880 new aircraft, Airbus smashed its previous record from 2013, with 1 503 orders. Boeing counted 945 new orders at the end of November, far from its 2014 record of 1 432 new orders.

Therefore, the Airbus order book is bursting at the seams with more than 8 500 aircraft to be produced, while Boeing’s is, with 5 914 planes, 35% lower.

Airbus’s flagship aircraft of choice is the popular A321 NEO, a plane that, on overage, has 20% lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, like all its neo-game aircraft. With over 5 600 aircraft purchased by 100 airlines worldwide, the A321 NEO accounts for 65% of the A320 NEO family’s order book.

Therefore, Airbus dominates the medium-haul segment, accounting for 65% of the market, the largest by volume, with more than 70% of global demand.

737 MAX crisis not over

Boeing is still suffering from the 737 MAX crisis. It had to ground its 737 MAX for almost two years after two accidents in a short time with this aircraft, in 2018 and 2019. It is also still struggling with the fourth version of the 737 MAX, due to a serial setback, such as defects, lack of quality control, etc.

In late December, for instance, the aircraft manufacturer asked airlines that own its flagship 737 MAX aircraft to check because of the risk of a “loose bolt” on the rudder control system.

There’s also a gaping hole in its range: since production of the 757 ceased in 2004, it has no aircraft to match the A 321 NEO, whose LR and XLR versions perform as long-haul aircraft at medium-haul operating costs.

It is now pinning high hopes on the 737 MAX7, the smallest model in the range, as an alternative to Airbus’s A220, a small airliner targeting the 100-to-150-seat market segment, but certification if the aircraft takes a long time.

On the other hand, Boeing still dominates the long-haul market (52%), thanks to the cargo versions of its 777, 747, and 787, a segment that Airbus had abandoned. However, the European aircraft manufacturer is not sitting still in that segment either: the first delivery of the A350F, the freighter version of its long-haul aircraft, is planned for 2026.

Moreover, Boeing has resumed deliveries in China with the delivery of a long-haul 787-9 Dreamliner, the first aircraft in four years. It’s not insignificant when you know that Boeing forecasts that China alone should generate about 20% of global demand over the next 20 years.

Shorter production time

Yet Airbus is also struggling with bottlenecks, especially in terms of delivery. According to Le Figaro newspaper, Airbus has been struggling with its delivery times for some time and is struggling to shorten the time between order and delivery, which averages eight to ten years.

Yet here, too, it is moving up a gear. It has strengthened its network of A320 NEO assembly plants, such as the newest A320 Family Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Toulouse so that they can all produce the A321 NEO.

Together with the other A320 Family FALs in Hamburg, Mobile (US), and Tianjin (China), it will contribute to Airbus’ objective of ramping up production, from producing 40 A320 NEOs per month in 2020 to 75 per month in 2026, up from an average of 50 in 2023.

Orders long in advance

Indeed, the challenge is quickly meeting the avalanche of new orders as airlines look to renew their fleets with more modern aircraft as part of their decarbonization plan and rising passenger numbers. For example, the number of commercial aircraft in service is expected to double by 2044, from 24 500 aircraft today to 48 575.

However, Airbus and Boeing have not yet managed to increase their production rates sufficiently, just as the Covid-19 crisis has weakened the chain of subcontractors. This is a fact that airlines are also responding to by placing orders just as long in advance, or one of the explanations for Turkish Airlines’ order recently for 220 new aircraft, the Air France-KLM order of 50 Airbus A350s, or the 157 extra A320 NEOs by UK low-cost carrier easyJet.