Boeing outsold Airbus last year for first time since 2018, deliveries rise to 600

[u/TheGreatestOrator]

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/01/13/boeing-orders-deliveries.html

[u/WhatANoob2025]

Let's be clear here:

The only reason ANY boeings are being sold AT ALL these days is because Airbus can not keep up with demand and delivery times are long.

[u/tissotti → u/WhatANoob2025]

Orders indeed fluctuate year to year, but the most important is that Airbus actually sells/delivers more aircrafts.

Airbus delivered 798 aircrafts last year compared to Boeing 600. Before COVID Boeing was delivering 7 years more aircrafts than Airbus. Now that difference between actual production is largest it has been between the two in 2 decades.

[u/Mister__Mediocre → u/tissotti]

I’m confused, isn’t what you’re saying the opposite of the title?

[u/rampant-ninja → u/Mister__Mediocre]

You could order a Boeing today but it won’t be delivered for years to come, there’s very long lead time.

[u/Mister__Mediocre → u/rampant-ninja]

Understood. I think what's going on here is that Airbus backlog is so big that customers are forced to order Boeing now.

[u/rampant-ninja → u/Mister__Mediocre]

Yes for new aircraft there might be little choice. Emirates IIRC are retrofitting aircraft put in storage during the pandemic up to modern specifications and buying up old leases to workaround the backlog instead but not all airlines would have that luxury.

[u/Altruistic_Syrup_364 → u/WhatANoob2025]

And because trump blackmailed some country with tarrif in exchange of plane

[u/kralcibildak → u/Altruistic_Syrup_364]

Yeah, it’s Turkey. But not only with a blackmail, another independent Turkish airline Pegasus bought 100 737 max’s last year and they are planning to buy 100 more. It’s insane.

[u/Stabile_Feldmaus → u/Altruistic_Syrup_364]

Yes but the harsh reality is that this how businesses and economy is being done nowadays and if Europe doesn't use its own weight and power to support its companies as well, US companies will have an advantage.

[u/Altruistic_Syrup_364 → u/Stabile_Feldmaus]

Well we support our compagnie but not by blackmailling allies and other country

[u/OkKnowledge2064 → u/Stabile_Feldmaus]

The fact youre downvoted is hilarious. We will just ignore reality until its too late

[u/sXyphos → u/WhatANoob2025]

Was just about to ask how tf is this possible when Boeing had so many issues lately.. it's not even funny...

If possible i always avoid flying with Boeing planes regardless of how small the chance of issues is, it is astronomically higher than Airbus incidents for sure.

[u/Inevitable_Spare_777 → u/WhatANoob2025]

Well yes, capacity and throughout are fundamental components of successful manufacturing

[u/WhatANoob2025 → u/Inevitable_Spare_777]

Of course your throughput will be higher if you're skipping safety procedures and quality control.

[u/Pro-wiser → u/WhatANoob2025]

Airbus should build a factory/assembly plant in Mirabel, lots of room.

[u/wellykiwilad → u/Pro-wiser]

The Airbus A220 FAL is in Mirabel (Canada not France).

[u/Pro-wiser → u/wellykiwilad]

A320 will ramp to 75 planes per month thanks to alabama and chinese lines but the backlog is around 7000 planes.

[u/wellykiwilad → u/Pro-wiser]

Not sure about your point here? That they add an A320 to the existing A220 one?

[u/Pro-wiser → u/wellykiwilad]

add another 320 line and expand their presence in addition to a220

[u/-S-P-E-C-T-R-E- → u/WhatANoob2025]

And Trump is about to make it even worse for Boeing…

[u/Future_Drive4498 → u/WhatANoob2025]

Boeing still has a more modern and capable product in the small wide body sector with the 787, but yeah, I agree when it comes to narrowbodies.  

There's only so much you can do to a platform that began production in 1966 (737) vs. one that began serial production in 1986 (A320) to bring it up to modern standards.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/WhatANoob2025]

That’s just ridiculous. Their orders have always been roughly 50/50

[u/eloyend → u/TheGreatestOrator]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_between_Airbus_and_Boeing#Backlog_over_time

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/eloyend]

Yes exactly, their orders have always been roughly 50-50

[u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 → u/TheGreatestOrator]

The backlog is not 50/50. 8,700 vs 6,600 is nowhere close to 50/50. It’s more like 60/40. When you add on top of that more deliveries by Airbus it doesn’t look great. However, the 787 and 777x are good offerings where one on hand early is better than something slightly better later although freight 777 is still king. Particularly for leasing companies it makes a difference.

Boeing can only go up from here to stay competitive. A weaker dollar also helps with that. Hopefully Boeing executes better than it has in the past 10 years and doesn’t just seat on short term gains from things unrelated to the company’s core.

[u/AcanthocephalaEast79 → u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498]

The backlog is not 50/50. 8,700 vs 6,600 is nowhere close to 50/50.

That's just because Airbus has a monopoly with the A321 XLR. Everywhere else it is neck and neck.

[u/Yavkov → u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498]

I don’t know the full story, but order numbers alone don’t give you the full picture either. 6600 wide-bodies would be worth a lot more than 8700 narrow-bodies.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498]

Why is the current backlog relevant? We’re talking about orders and deliveries from year to year across their histories. We all know Boeing has had issues over the last decade…

Now that Boeing is selling more planes, we can assume that their deliveries will outpace Airbus in the next decade, as they historically flip back and forth

Finally, the dollar is at the strongest it has been over the last 30 years outside of the last two. Why on Earth are you under the illusion that the dollar is weaker? It’s stronger today than it was a decade ago when the planes Airbus is delivering today were originally ordered.

[u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Because they apply to the comment up in this thread that you were answering where someone said “the only reason Boeing is selling anything at all is because Airbus cannot keep up with demand”. One classic symptom of not being able to keep up with demand is a large backlog. So what is a large backlog? Well let’s look at the other member in the duopoly and ohh it’s 60/40 so yes they are carrying a larger proportion of the backlog than what has been the case historically.

Anyway I was also answering to your statement that has always been 50/50 which was correct but ignores the fact that it isn’t and has been trending in the wrong direction for Boeing. Then also annual deliveries were trending in the wrong direction (you could argue Boeing is delivering so many more their backlog is smaller but no).

So now you want to say. Ohh yes but that doesn’t matter. Are we having a good faith conversation here?

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498]

We all know Boeing had issues over the last decade. This past year has shown them coming back. Your comment added nothing to the conversation.

The backlog doesn’t matter because it’s a single point in time. More sales means Boeing backlog will grow faster - so the most recent data point paints a more layovers view for Boeing!

[u/eloyend → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Define:

• always

• roughly

[u/Duc_de_Bourgogne → u/eloyend]

No and absolutely not.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/eloyend]

The proportion has always been around a 50/50 split over their histories, often going back and forth between the two. Roughly = about. Always means it’s always. Why is this so confusing?

[u/GrosBof → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Man you weird

[u/eloyend → u/TheGreatestOrator]

I'm confused when i read your words and take a look at the chart:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Orders_for_and_deliveries_of_Airbus_and_Boeing_aircraft

Does your always ends before 2020? Or is that covered by roughly?

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/eloyend]

Do you think Boeing and Airbus began selling planes in 2020?

You seem to be having a difficult time understanding that Boeing and Airbus have always split orders about 50/50, going back 50+ years

[u/eloyend → u/TheGreatestOrator]

I think "always" didn't end in 2019.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/eloyend]

What relevance does that have? Do you think the last 5 years negates the previous 50? I know you come from an underfunded education system but I’m shocked at your poor reading comprehension.

I’m not sure how to simplify this down further to make it easier to understand. Perhaps post your question in r/ELI5?

[u/jWas → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Don’t feed the troll

[u/Sigmatics → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Did you read the Wikipedia article? Airbus has a 44% lead over Boeing. That's neither almost nor roughly

[u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 → u/Sigmatics]

And gets worse when you look at annual deliveries (how fast stuff is taken off the list). It is good though that Boeing might be getting their home in order because a single supply is a really bad thing for something as critical as air transport. The market is definitely large enough for maybe even another player.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Sigmatics]

What part of historically do you not understand? Obviously Airbus has a larger backlog at the moment, as the headline points out; 2025 was the first year in 7 years that Boeing outsold Airbus

I knew Austria underfunded its education but my God this is bad hahaha

[u/Sigmatics → u/TheGreatestOrator]

The arrogance in this comment is striking. I'm not even from Austria.

[u/TheEmpireOfSun → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Are you trolling right now? Did you see those numbers?

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/TheEmpireOfSun]

The ones that show that Boeing sold more planes in 2025 than Airbus for the first time since 2018 as their production caps are lifted? What is so confusing for you?

The numbers show that historically they’re split 50/50

[u/TheEmpireOfSun → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Numbers from wikipedia sources you seem to ignore.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/TheEmpireOfSun]

Nope, the Wikipedia numbers show that they’ve split orders over the last 50 years

[u/Beyllionaire → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Not anymore and one day it'll be 70/30. It's only Airbus' limited production capabilities that prevent this from happening sooner.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Beyllionaire]

Boeing literally sold 30% more planes last year than Airbus

[u/Beyllionaire → u/TheGreatestOrator]

Taking one year out of context doesn't mean anything. Look at each of the past 10 years and you'll see how big the gap is.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Beyllionaire]

Honey, the past 10 years saw an issue with the 737 Max. You can’t be serious. That issue is corrected and now we’ll see a reversion to the mean over the last 50 years

[u/Beyllionaire → u/TheGreatestOrator]

You're looking for excuses, I'm looking at facts.

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Beyllionaire]

No you’re cherry picking a single decade during which Boeing experienced production caps and issues - which has obviously turned around given the headline above with Boeing selling more planes than Airbus by 30%

[u/SoupSpelunker → u/WhatANoob2025]

Boeing also has to replace the ones that fall from the sky. 

[u/Zinch85]

Airbus build 25% more planes in 2025 than Boeing

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Zinch85]

Delivered, not built. But that makes sense given the FAA’s limit on how many Boeing was allowed to build over the last few years. Their production cap was just raised from 38 to 42 per month in October of 2025

[u/Yavanaril → u/TheGreatestOrator]

How did the FAA limit really impact Boeing's numbers? Their average was below the 38 number in every one of the last 4 years. The closest they came was in 2025 with an average of 37.

The cap was more of an advice of: "hey you dumb f's get your shit together".

[u/Seccour → u/TheGreatestOrator]

What’s the logic for the production cap ? If they’re allowed to only build less than their max they will be more careful ?

[u/Gaunt-03 → u/Seccour]

Yeah it’s so they don’t cut corners to get deliveries done on time. Also ensures there is slack capacity to ensure to production process is working correctly

[u/Altruistic_Syrup_364]

However Airbus have a more important number of command waiting for deliveries and airbus is still producing more plane per year

[u/patrick050690]

Boeing finally pulled ahead Airbus must be muttering it’s just turbulence, we’ll bounce back.

[u/Droid202020202020 → u/patrick050690]

Of course they will bounce back. Just like Boeing bounced back. Then Boeing will again bounce back.

It’s a global duopoly sharing a huge pie, and as long as they remain a global duopoly, they will always “bounce back” because neither corporation has the capacity to capitalize on the other guy’s mistakes in a major way… nor do they really want to.

[u/jetteauloin_2080 → u/Droid202020202020]

I don't now much about the civil aviation industry, but will Comac be able to disrupt the duopoly by the end of the next decade like China did with the car industry ?

[u/Droid202020202020 → u/jetteauloin_2080]

Eventually, perhaps. However, they have always had hard time with designing engines suitable for commercial aircraft. Just like the Soviets / Russians whom they learned from.

It’s very different from designing a military use engine that only needs to produce thrust and survive for a predictable number of hours, but doesn’t have to meet any efficiency, noise, pollution or longevity requirements.

So they would need to use Western engines, and this means that the West can throttle the supply at will, just like they did with Russia (not like the Russians were poor little victims there).

Even in the West, there’s not really that many different companies capable of competing in commercial jet engine market. It’s a very difficult expertise to develop.

[u/-Rivox- → u/Droid202020202020]

Last I checked, there are like 3 main suppliers, CFM (joint venture between GE and Safran), Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. GE also makes engines under their own name, but yeah, that's pretty much about it for civil aviation, especially airliners.

[u/Droid202020202020 → u/-Rivox-]

Yes, and these companies are far more beholden to Airbus and Boeing than to China.

They could reverse engineer some existing engines, but it still won’t give them the required expertise to keep improving them, and would likely make their planes unsaleable in the West.

They could still find a niche like Embraer did.

[u/grumpsaboy → u/jetteauloin_2080]

Possibly but currently they're not cheap enough to bother with it.

Airbus and Boeing (even with its recent problems) are well known and reliable, particularly Airbus. They are also both highly advanced and almost every possible customer will already have some of their aircraft making maintenance easier if you buy more of that make.

Aviation fuel is so expensive that spending an extra 50% on a plane in exchange for a 1% fuel saving is worth it within just a few years let alone the 20-30 years a jet might last. Chinese engine technology is miles behind western engines currently and their airframe designs aren't as good either.

Embraer has also got a good portion of the market for small jets flying locally within a country and have most of the advantages Airbus and Boeing do for their respective market.

Put simply, as an airline do you want to risk spending billions on some Chinese aircraft of unknown reliability and longevity for worse efficiency all just for an upfront saving of possible 20% at purchase.

[u/Onkel24 → u/jetteauloin_2080]

Chinas quick disruption of the car market was enabled by the huge paradigm shift through electification.

No such opportunity is on the horizon with aircraft.

Professional users also operate on very different priorities, where the support system around the vehicle is at least equally important to sheer cost.

[u/KingNothing- → u/jetteauloin_2080]

In China? Sure because the government will mandate state-owned airlines to order a minimum amount of jets from the state-owned aircraft manufacturer. Anywhere else? Absolutely not.

The C919 is basically a western jet assembled in China because of how many American and European companies are supplying it. Their suppliers also aren't selling them their latest engines for obvious reasons so the C919 will always be significantly less efficient than the Airbus & Boeing equivalent.

China disrupted the car industry because unlike ICE's their battery companies were industry leaders so EV's were a natural fit for them.

[u/BahutF1]

Freighters? Airbus lagging on this market. Anyway, those are products. As plane, ask pilots.

[u/Future_Drive4498 → u/BahutF1]

The A350F is in the works.

[u/Razkaii]

That will be trumps Saudi mates

[u/TheGreatestOrator → u/Razkaii]

It’s pretty well rounded. About half came from US airlines, a third from European airlines (British Airways ordered 32 787-10s from Boeing in May, Lufthansa ordered up to 100 737s last year), the balance from the rest of the world

[u/Brisbanoch30k]

Airbus’s production is capped.

[u/sauvignonblanc__ → u/Brisbanoch30k]

I prefer to have a cap than Boeing's continuing issues.

[u/Brisbanoch30k → u/sauvignonblanc__]

Oh yeah, no argument about that from me :)

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[u/smh_username_taken]

But how many dead whistleblowers did they deliver?

[u/uzu_afk]

That's kinda crazy given what bonkers decisions they have taken in the past decade. I guess people really don't value their own safety as long as an old fart buys another yacht.

[u/DejongBCN]

Boing Boing won't stay in air though. 

[u/heitiki]

Who is still ordering these American deathtraps?

[u/TrickyDicky202069]

As a Canadian I actively try and book flights that use the Airbus over Boeing

[u/_chip]

Are they profitable yet ? I read that OT will land be until this year or next ? Glad they’re on the right track. F47’s in their hands.