Airbus seems to have taken a big lead in aircraft sales, as its rival Boeing continues to suffer. Airbus, on Friday, said that it has sold a whopping 415 aircraft in October that takes its total tally to 718 for the year.
Boeing, on the other hand, is far behind in the race, with its yearly sales recording a meager 170 aircraft till September. And if order cancellation were to be considered, it comes down to a dismal 54 aircraft. Airbus' figures, on the other hand, after cancellations, stand at 542.
This means, Boeing has sold only around 10% of the total aircraft that Airbus has sold till October. Boeing and Airbus have been long rivals but the former has been mired in controversy lately.
A lot of the credit for Airbus' huge lead goes to the biggest order ever by a single airline. India's budget carrier Indigo in October placed an order for a staggering 300 more A320neo variants. Indigo already operates 200 Airbus A320ceo aircraft and has a total order of 730 aircraft. Besides, the aircraft manufacturing company also received an order for 30 Airbus A321XLRs from Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia.
Is Boeing's Loss Airbus's Gain?
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A330neo, with almost similar seating capacities, compete in the midrange wide-body aircraft market. However, demand for Boeing's 787 wide-body has been declining since 2018, while the popularity of Airbus' narrow-body type A330neo continues to grow, the recent proof being the bulk order from Indigo.
Boeing has been losing out in the race lately, with controversy miring its aircraft. The company is struggling hard to recover from the two crashes of its 737 Max aircraft this year that forced it to ground all its 737 Max aircraft in March. This has also seen the company's stock taking a massive hit in recent times.
Also, lately aviation companies across the world have been grounding scores of Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft as they continue to find cracks in the bodies of the aircraft. Boeing had earlier alerted that similar cracks could be found 1,000 of its 737NG aircraft and met the condition for inspection.
Airbus, on the other hand, has been piling on its orders. The order for 415 aircraft adds to the company's already backlog of ordered aircraft, which stood at 7,471 at the end of October. The company delivered 77 commercial aircraft in October, taking its yearly tally to 648 aircraft in October.
