Boeing Finally Beats Airbus

After a turbulent half-decade, Boeing started 2025, reporting more aircraft deliveries than its counterpart, Airbus.

Despite substantial Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight, Boeing shipped 45 aircraft to airline customers. This was its busiest in several years and an essential step in ongoing rebuilding efforts.

40 deliveries from the 737 MAX program drove the 45 total deliveries during the month, which represented a further jump month after month thanks to the business’ continued stabilisation.

For Boeing, January represented the first 31-day period in which no production woes crept into the business; the latest problem was strike action, which wiped out over 30,000 workers for a multi-month period.

While strike action ceased in November 2024, work on programs didn’t resume until December 2024, significantly affecting the last quarter’s numbers.

However, with the turn of the new year, January presented the planemaker with a clean slate, and it undoubtedly pounced on this, with aircraft deliveries improving substantially.

The performance follows comments from Avia Solutions Group, a leading ACMI and wet-lease operator that visited the production floor and saw the improvement being made.

This group forecasts that Boeing will dramatically improve by the end of this decade, 2030, and be primed to meet all available demand without delays, like Airbus.

While deliveries and overall production remain capped following the inauguration of a new President and administration, along with changes to the FAA, Boeing remains confident it will progress in 2025.

Looking Ahead At Boeing

Delivering 45 aircraft in January and beating out its competitor Airbus is a fantastic way for Boeing to start the calendar year after many persistent issues.

However, the American planemaker will want to build upon this early success across the long term but knows that much will rest on how the Federal Aviation Administration judges progress.

The FAA stepped in on the planemaker at the beginning of 2024 when a door blowout incident occurred, which led to further quality issues being uncovered and plaguing Boeing throughout 2024.

Following this, the FAA imposed restrictions on Boeing’s ability to produce aircraft with caps on monthly rates. While all parties deemed these measures frustrating, the American planemaker acknowledged the need to prioritise stability across its business.

Too often, Boeing has rushed production in search of profits and to compete with Airbus and their successful A320neo program.

The launch of the A320neo program led Boeing to panic and move ahead with its MAX. In a race to get the aircraft to launch and limit Airbus’ advances in a critical market for manufacturers, corners were cut to ensure certification could be achieved, which would later come back to bite.

Moving forward, the planemaker has a lot of work ahead of it; however, it feels it’s primed to finally begin improving and taking back market share while closing the gap between itself and its counterpart.