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Boeing has fallen far behind Airbus in its long-running battle to be the world’s biggest plane-maker after a year of setbacks and crises.
The US manufacturer delivered less than half the number of jets shipped by its European rival in 2024, the latest data show, with a similar story for new orders.
While Airbus increased deliveries by 31 planes last year to reach a total of 766, Boeing saw handovers slump to just 348, a drop of 180.
The result means it is now six years since Boeing last occupied the top spot in the airliner industry, which remains an effective duopoly between the US company and Airbus.
Boeing slipped further behind its rival after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max at 16,000 feet last January, triggering a crisis that dogged Boeing for the rest of the year.
The Max model was immediately grounded for safety checks, which revealed a litany of issues. That led the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cap build rates for the plane at 38 a month.
Scrutiny of production processes and the supply chain subsequently uncovered fundamental quality-control problems, deepening the crisis and causing Max output to slow even further.
Dave Calhoun, the former chief executive of Boeing, promised to quit before the end of the year, falling on his sword in the wake of the crisis. However, unions seized the moment to press for a record pay rise, triggering a 53-day strike by 33,000 workers that shut down the company’s Seattle assembly lines and further ate into production time.
As a result, 2024’s modest delivery total was heavily reliant on shipments of 737s built before the Alaska Airlines incident.
Nick Cunningham, an Aerospace analyst, said 2024 was “Boeing’s annus horribilis”. He said: “You’d imagine that things really can only get better for Boeing, but it’s going to be a slow recovery because the problems run so deep.
“Kelly Ortberg, the new chief executive, is a really good man but there’s an awful lot to come back from. It’s a case of, ‘If you want to fix it, you really wouldn’t want to start from here.’”
Boeing is currently producing fewer than 38 Max planes a month, meaning it is below the FAA’s limit. Reports last month suggested that Boeing aimed to increase monthly output to the capped rate by May this year.
Boeing said it will provide an update on its production outlook with full-year earnings at the end of this month.
Despite its crushing lead over Boeing, Airbus is also suffering from supply-chain issues. It originally targeted 800 plane deliveries for 2024, later revising the goal to about 770.