The Competitive Landscape of the Aviation Industry: Airbus vs Boeing

The Competitive Landscape of the Aviation Industry

Four years ago, Airbus achieved a significant milestone: for the first time in its history, the number of its passenger aircraft in operation worldwide surpassed that of its main competitor, Boeing. Since that pivotal moment, Airbus has only strengthened its dominance in the market.

Restoring Boeing’s competitive edge will be one of the formidable challenges facing its newly appointed CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who took the helm last week. Successfully navigating this endeavor will involve addressing the industry-wide obstacles that are impacting both manufacturers while also securing a series of key victories—beginning with stabilizing aircraft production.

“Boeing is in a situation that is way more difficult than Airbus,” stated Saïma Hussain, an analyst at AlphaValue, an equity research firm. “Airbus is gaining market share while Boeing needs to recover.”

The two companies operate as a duopoly in the global passenger aircraft market; however, in recent years, Airbus has significantly outpaced Boeing in both production and sales. According to Cirium, an aviation data provider, Airbus has delivered over 3,800 aircraft to customers since the beginning of 2019, in stark contrast to Boeing, which has delivered approximately 2,100 during the same timeframe.

In recent times, both manufacturers are grappling with the challenge of meeting production demands fast enough to satisfy their customers, who are eager to expand their fleets in response to the surging global demand for air travel.

“Is it frustrating? Of course. Would we love to get more aircraft more quickly? Of course,” remarked Campbell Wilson, the CEO of Air India, a customer of both Boeing and Airbus, during a panel discussion at the Farnborough Air Show near London last month. He continued, “But there is a silver lining: we’re all in the same boat. We’re all suffering.”