Cursed week for Airbus while things seem to be finally looking up for US competitor

Although dozens of companies manufacture aeroplanes, industry specialists widely agree that two firms have a firm grip on the commercial aviation industry: Airbus and Boeing. The American manufacturer has endured several turbulent years marked by internal restructuring, quality-control lapses, and multiple fatal incidents involving its aircraft.

In contrast, Airbus had appeared to continue operating recent years without any loud drama as its counterpart. That changed last week, offering an unwelcome reminder that the European giant is also vulnerable to production and supply problems that continue to plague the sector even years after the pandemic.

Airbus was forced to revise its aircraft delivery target on December 3 for the year—after long insisting it could meet it despite growing warning signs. The shift followed the discovery that a relatively obscure Spanish supplier had shipped out-of-spec fuselage panels, as reported by Reuters.

The announcement came just days after Airbus urgently called for a software update on roughly 6,000 A320 aircraft, its most popular model, after finding a possible issue in how onboard computers interact with flight controls.

More than 6,000 planes required immediate software fixes in what became one of the largest technical interventions in aviation history. The update caused widespread disruptions and flight cancellations during the final weekend of November—a peak travel period in the United States due to Thanksgiving.

Then, on December 1, Airbus acknowledged a separate issue involving metal panels forming the fuselage of the same model, triggering checks on more than 600 aircraft. According to Reuters, 168 of the affected planes are already in service.

The back-to-back setbacks rattled investors and led to Airbus’s worst trading day since April. The missteps felt even more striking because Boeing, at the same time, delivered its most upbeat market outlook in months.

On December 2, Boeing presented a series of optimistic forecasts, including higher 737 and 787 deliveries next year and a return to generating positive cash flow after years of losses. Investors responded quickly, lifting the stock by nearly 10%.

Boeing is still recovering from a crisis that began in late 2018 when two crashes occurred in rapid succession (Lion Air Flight 610 in October and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019). Both incidents involved Boeing’s newest model at the time, which was subsequently grounded worldwide until software fixes were implemented. The pandemic then deepened the company’s challenges, while quality issues nearly caused another disaster in 2024. A major strike late last year also halted production for weeks.

While Airbus’s latest troubles are unlikely to escalate into anything comparable to Boeing's prolonged meltdown, the revised delivery targets will delay aircraft handovers at a time when airlines urgently need new jets to upgrade their fleets.

By Nazrin Sadigova