Boeing Overtakes Airbus Last Year, Regains Top Spot After Seven Years

[Financial News]

The Boeing Company reclaimed the top spot in the global aircraft market last year for the first time in seven years. It surpassed its European rival Airbus SE for the first time since 2018, regaining its position as the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer.
After a series of safety issues that began with the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Lion Air off the coast near Jakarta in October 2018, which killed all 189 people on board, Boeing faced a worldwide grounding of the model and serious production disruptions. The latest results suggest the company has staged a comeback.
The Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) reported on the 12th (local time) that Boeing recorded 1,173 net orders last year, outpacing its European rival Airbus SE for the first time since 2018. Airbus SE’s net orders came to 889 aircraft.
Boeing delivered 63 aircraft in December alone, bringing its total deliveries for the year to 600, the highest figure in seven years.
Boeing has also emerged from a seven-year slump in trust that began with the 2018 crash in Indonesia and another crash of a 737 MAX 8 in Ethiopia five months later, which together claimed 346 lives.
The Boeing 737 MAX, once a bestseller but later shunned after a string of fatal crashes, has begun to regain customer confidence.
Boeing said that of the 63 aircraft it delivered last month, 44 were Boeing 737 MAX jets.
Even though Boeing recaptured the number-one position last year in terms of net orders, it is still difficult to call it the undisputed king of the market.
In terms of actual deliveries, Airbus SE remains the world’s number-one aircraft manufacturer.
Airbus SE delivered a total of 793 aircraft last year, far exceeding Boeing’s 600.
However, this still falls short of its own record set in 2019. That year, Airbus SE benefited from Boeing’s severe difficulties following the 737 MAX 8 crashes and shipped 863 aircraft, marking its all-time high in annual deliveries.
Meanwhile, Boeing received a total of 174 orders last month, including an order for more than 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets from Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines placed the large order for 737 MAX aircraft despite an incident in January last year in which a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by the carrier lost a fuselage side emergency exit door shortly after takeoff. The move is seen as a symbolic sign of recovering trust in Boeing’s passenger jets.
Delta Air Lines announced at its quarterly earnings presentation on the 13th that it has ordered at least 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the early 2030s.
On news that Boeing had overtaken Airbus SE to reclaim the top spot for the first time in seven years, its shares jumped 2.5% in morning trading, closing at 245.73 dollars.
Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which includes Boeing, slipped 0.6%, Boeing’s stock took off as if it had grown new wings.

dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter