The delivery race 2000-2018

Last week attendees at the Air Finance Journal event in Dublin heard industry legend John Leahy say the top item to watch is deliveries, not orders. After all, it is deliveries that are real. Orders are planned events and these frequently change. So looking at the two big OEMs, what does the race look like over time? Note that Airbus and Boeing breakdown world markets differently. Starting in 2000 we have this chart. As we can see, Boeing delivered 1.8 aircraft per Airbus delivery. For both OEMs, the USA and EU were the big markets. Whereas Airbus' biggest customer was America West, Boeing had Delta. In Europe, Boeing had BA while Airbus had Lufthansa. In 2005 there were some changes. Airbus delivered 1.4 aircraft for each Boeing. Boeing was focused on the USA and Asia - ILFC and JAL were the biggest customers. Airbus was focused on the USA and Asia too - with the key customers being JetBlue and China Southern. By 2010 there were more changes. Airbus and Boeing were essentially equal in deliveries. Boeing's key markets were the USA and EU, with key customers American and Ryanair. Airbus's key markets were Asia and the EU, with key customers China Southern and Lufthansa. 2015 saw more changes. Airbus delivered 1.3 aircraft per each Boeing. Boeing's key markets were the USA and UE, with key customers united and Ryanair. Airbus' key markets were Asia and EU, with key customers being China Southern and EasyJet. In the Boeing chart, the white leaf is "Unidentified". By 2018 there were some more changes. Boeing took the delivery lead but it was close. Boeing's key markets were the USA and Asia, with key customers being Southwest and China Eastern. Airbus' key markets were Asia and the EU, with key customers being Indigo and EasyJet. When we take the entire period year by year we see the following. We have highlighted the top three regions for both OEMs. Boeing is more dependent on the North American market than Airbus. Airbus is stronger in the EU. Both these are not surprising. But the biggest growth markets are India and China. The following chart illustrates how strong Airbus is these markets even though Boeing has been catching up in China but less so in India. Had Airbus been getting GTFs on-time last year, there is a case they would have out-delivered Boeing again.

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