Just one week into 2024, a plug-in door of an Alaska Airlines plane blew out mid-flight, causing the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9s with that configuration and triggering a series of inspections into the Boeing manufacturing process which have revealed grave oversights of due diligence. Expectedly, Boeing shares crashed, making way for its European and main competitor, Airbus, to reach record highs.
But even before the January incident, Boeing had been on a downslope for several years. In 2019, all Boeing 737 Max aircraft were grounded for one and a half years after two crashes occurred within 6 months of each other, a Lion Air flight in Indonesia and an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. Investigations revealed that both were caused by faulty aircraft. These made way for Airbus to supply 3 times more planes during the pandemic than Boeing.
Even after the grounding was lifted and with aviation reaching 99% of pre-Covid levels in November last year, Boeing has yet to climb back to its former glory, with Boeing company share values remaining at around 50% lower than in 2019. Meanwhile, Airbus shares keep climbing, having exceeded pre-Covid values even before the Alaska Airlines incident.
All of these are shown in the two companies end of year results for 2023. Although Boeing did post a higher revenue than Airbus – $ 77.8 billion (€ 72.2 billion) compared to € 65.4 billion respectively – Boeing ended the year on a net loss of $ 2.2 billion (€ 2 billion), while Airbus secured a net profit of € 3.8 billion.
The decreasing confidence in Boeing aircraft, fuelled not only by safety concerns, but also heavy delivery delays, is also shown in the number of orders each manufacturer received. While Boeing recorded 1,576 new orders, Airbus received a record 2,094 orders for new aircraft. At the end of 2023, Boeing had a commercial aircraft order backlog (ordered planes to be delivered over a defined period of time) of 5,600, while Airbus’ backlog counted 8,598 orders.
Revenue | Net profit | Commercial planes delivered | New orders | Commercial aircraft order backlog | |
Boeing | $ 77.8 billion (€ 72.2 billion) | $ – 2.2 billion (€ – 2 billion) | 538 | 1,576 | 5,600 |
Airbus | € 65.4 billion | € 3.8 billion | 735 | 2,094 | 8,598 |
While neither one of the two manufacturers could meet global demand by itself, Boeing needing to go back to the drawing board and reevaluating the safety of its aircraft makes way for Airbus to take the lead. In early 2022, the European manufacturer announced plans to increase jet production by 50% in the following 3 years, while Boeing’s production still lags behind.
In the most recent demonstration of the high quality of Airbus aircraft, the advanced burn-through resistant materials used for the A350 are considered to have kept the fire contained enough in Japan Airlines’ recent crash with a Coast Guard aircraft in Tokyo, allowing all passengers and crew to safely evacuate the plane.