Boeing closes gap on Airbus in 2022 deliveries

Boeing and Airbus, two of the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturers, revealed their delivery numbers for the second quarter of 2022, in addition to the first half of the year.

Boeing’s deliveries rose significantly compared to the first half of 2021, with 216 aircraft delivered in contrast to 156 during the same period during the previous year.

Airbus deliveries remained stagnant as the manufacturer delivered 295 airplanes in H1 2022. 297 Airbus aircraft were delivered during the same period in 2021. However, it should also be noted that the company recalled delivery of two aircraft ordered by Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot, which would have brought the number back up to 297.

With these numbers, Airbus is still outpacing Boeing, delivering 79 more aircraft than its competitor during the first half of the year. However, Boeing’s deliveries show a steady rise since experiencing lows in 2020 as the manufacturer faced pandemic-related issues alongside the 737 MAX crisis. Meanwhile, Airbus deliveries seem to stagnate short of the pre-pandemic level.

The resumption of 737 MAX production has been the main driving force behind Boeing’s increase in deliveries. As the data in the chart below suggests, production of wide-body airliners has been relatively stagnant since the pandemic struck in 2020, and the increase in production mainly involved narrow-body models – the A220, the A320 and the 737.

Furthermore, Boeing faced significant problems with its latest wide-body jet, the 787 Dreamliner. This led to the slowing down of its production in 2021. No Dreamliners have been delivered during the first half of 2022.

However, Boeing’s issues with the 787 were still not significant enough to leave a dent in the manufacturer’s deliveries. The ramp-up in production of the 737 MAX, which resumed in May 2020, was the main contributor to the rise in this metric.