Airbus has revealed it delivered 766 commercial aircraft to 86 customers around the world in 2024. Additionally, the European manufacturer registered 878 gross new orders, resulting in a 2024 yearend backlog stood of 8,658 aircraft.
“2024 confirmed sustained demand for new aircraft. We won key customer decisions with most important customers and saw phenomenal momentum for our widebody orderbook, complementing our leading position in the single aisle market,” commented Christian Scherer, CEO of Airbus’ Commercial Aircraft division. “On deliveries, we kept our trajectory and celebrated several landmark firsts. These include the first ever A321XLR as well as first A330neo and A350 deliveries to several customers globally.”
Although its American competitor, Boeing, is yet to reveal its yearend results, Airbus was already ahead with deliveries from the first quarter of 2024 and the year did not go any better for Boeing after that. Meanwhile, Airbus has beat Boeing to Saudi Arabia’s largest ever aircraft order, with 105 planes of the A320 Family for the Saudia airline, as well as to Riyadh Air‘s, Saudi Arabia’s new national airline, 60 single-aisle aircraft order.
“Given the complex and fast-changing environment we continue to operate in, we consider 2024 a good year. It has been a massive team effort to deliver this 2024 result. A big thanks to Team Airbus who do what they do, every day, for our customers. And a big thanks to our customers for continuing to put their trust in us and grow our partnerships across the world,” Scherer added.
Boeing started last year with a plug-in door on a 737 model blowing out mid-air on an Alaska Airline flight, prompting a safety investigation in its manufacturing process. Things only went downhill from there, with the manufacturer reporting a $1.4 billion loss in the second quarter of 2024 (the months of April, May and June). With revenues 15% below the previous year’s second quarter, $16.9 billion compared to $19.8 billion in 2023, the company’s losses widely increased compared to the just $149 million in 2023’s second quarter.
On 8 July the manufacturer also pleaded guilty to avoid trial for two deadly crashes that took place within 6 months of each other in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. The deal, which would have made Boeing invest in safety practices, becoming subject to independent monitoring and paying a fine of $243 million, was rejected by a US judge in December, calling it “not in the public interest”.
