Boeing Vs Airbus: Who won 2022?

With Airbus and Boeing being such dominant forces in the commercial aviation industry, comparisons between the two manufacturers are inevitable.

With both OEMs having released full-year data on January 12 concerning their orders and deliveries in 2022, let's examine this, and other factors, to see who had the best year, Simple Flying reports.

Crunching the numbers

Starting with Boeing, the US giant's latest report showed that it delivered a total of 480 aircraft last year. Compared to the 340 that it managed in 2021, this represents a 41 per cent increase, as well as the company's busiest year for deliveries since 2018 (when it shipped out 806 commercial aircraft). The 737 was the dominant family here, with 387 of Boeing's 480 deliveries (81 per cent) in 2022 being these jets.

Meanwhile, across the North Atlantic Ocean, multinational European firm Airbus managed 661 deliveries in 2022. While this saw it fall short of its planned 700-aircraft target, this figure still represented an 8 per cent year-on-year increase compared to 2021 and put it comfortably ahead of Boeing. Narrowbodies were, once again, a key component, with 516 of the 661 deliveries (78 per cent) last year being A320 family jets.

In terms of orders, Boeing racked up a gross total of 935. When accounting for cancellations and conversions, this figure fell to a net total of 774. Meanwhile, Airbus managed 1,078 gross orders, with its final net figure being 820. On a corresponding conference call yesterday evening, Airbus CCO Christian Scherer stated that "cancellations were in line with previous years, and (...) largely anticipated."

Both parties faced major challenges last year

Despite both Airbus and Boeing having improved on their 2021 performance last year, 2022 was not without its challenges for the pair. Indeed, they, along with the industry as a whole, had to come to terms with hurdles like, as Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury explained yesterday, "COVID, the war in Ukraine, energy supply issues, inflation, and generally speaking, constrained labour markets."

On an individual level, one of the biggest challenges that Boeing faced was its ongoing hiatus of Boeing 787 deliveries. This began in May 2021, amid FAA concerns regarding quality control issues on the Dreamliner's production line. However, deliveries eventually resumed in August, with 31 shipped out by the end of 2022.

Meanwhile, Airbus has been caught up in an ongoing trial with Qatar Airways, regarding surface degradation on the carrier's A350 aircraft. The situation arose in January 2021 due to cracks on a single plane but has since spiralled into a much larger case. The tension between the two parties has even resulted in order cancellations, and, with a trial set to begin in June, there is still a long way to go.

The bottom line

While the issues faced by each manufacturer perhaps prevented 2022 from being the storming return to form that they might have hoped it would be, the year still represented an improvement over 2021 in both camps. This marked an admirable effort in each instance, but, in a business such as commercial aviation, the key facts and figures are what the major players tend to be judged on.

n this regard, the numbers show that Airbus had the stronger year of the pair. Its deliveries were 38 per cent higher than those of Boeing, and it also beat the US firm in terms of net orders by a margin of 6 per cent. Airbus CCO Christian Scherer reflected confidently on this outcome, stating that "we've enjoyed four consecutive years of leadership, and I look forward to making it five in the coming year."

That being said, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal is also optimistic about the year ahead. Looking to the future, he noted that "as the airline industry expands its recovery, we are seeing strong demand across our product family (...) We will stay focused on driving stability within our operations and the supply chain as we work to deliver for our customers in 2023 and beyond."