Models of Airbus planes at an international exhibition (AFP)
company acquiredAirbus“European aircraft manufacturer ranked first in the world in 2021, in terms of aircraft delivery, for the third year in a row, surpassing by a large difference nearly double over”BoeingThe US, which in return got bigger deals.
The European company outperformed its US counterpart by a large margin, having delivered 611 planes last year, according to estimates from Jefferies Group, a multinational investment bank headquartered in New York.
Jefferies indicated that Boeing, which will announce later today, Tuesday, the final results for the past year, delivered 337 new aircraft to customers during 2021.
Boeing prepares to win the order race
With these estimates, Boeing deliveries are about half less than Airbus. But while Airbus won the delivery race, Boeing is preparing to win the order race, as the European company achieved total sales of 771 aircraft in 2021, compared to 829 aircraft achieved by its American competitor at the end of November.
At the end of the year, Airbus received new orders from customers, including the American “Indigo Partners”, but some of those agreements were not listed before the end of December, according to the American Bloomberg Agency.
The data reflects the extent of Airbus’ superiority dependence on the pioneering “A320” model, which accounted for the delivery of 483 aircraft of that model in 2021, equivalent to about 80% of the total deliveries.
“When we started the year, we didn’t expect 2021 to register strong demand, and in fact, in the second half of the year we saw a lot of activity on that front,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said on a call with analysts to comment on the recently released earnings. The orders are an indication that customers are looking forward to the post-Coronavirus pandemic.
The battle of close orders between aircraft manufacturers signals a return to the traditional competitive landscape for deals. That competition has changed dramatically since the Boeing 737 Max was grounded after two fatal crashes in October 2018 and March 2019, and pent-up demand for the compact model returned to the market once again.
Airplane prices drop
Airlines took advantage of the low prices at the end of last year, to record historical requests, including the US “Indigo Partners” deal to buy 255 small-sized planes from “Airbus”, and the Indian “Akasa Air” purchase of 72 Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The two deals at the Dubai Airshow last November.
Air France – KLM and Australia’s Qantas also switched to ordering small-size planes from Airbus in December, having previously relied on Boeing to order that model.
But the deals of the two companies did not appear on records in 2021, as the “Air France – KLM” deal will be confirmed in the coming weeks, while Qantas is scheduled to follow suit in early 2022.
This comes while there remains an open request from IAG, the owner of British Airways, to reach a detailed agreement to order 200 of the “737 Max” aircraft, dating back to 2019. The American “Delta Airlines” is also looking for more aircraft. It said the 737 Max could join its fleet.
The challenge for Airbus is to speed up production of the flagship A320 model. The CEO of the company said that Airbus is committed to producing 65 aircraft per month until mid-2023, and is also studying the possibility of exceeding that.
Faury added that supply chain issues that caused disappointing production rates in September and October have been resolved, even as the company struggles with high energy prices and a shortage of raw materials and staff.
Airlines are changing their fleets
Airbus had expected, in a report on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow in November, that the demand for the acquisition of new aircraft would not be affected by the Corona pandemic, as the European group is counting on replacing fleets with aircraft that emit lower levels of carbon dioxide.
She said that the demand for new aircraft will reach about 39,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft by 2040. This estimate is in line with previous expectations issued by the company in September 2019 before the spread of Corona, and stated at the time that the demand for new aircraft will reach 39,210 aircraft during the next two decades.
But Airbus appears more conservative in its estimate of new orders than its American competitor, Boeing, which forecast the need for 43,610 new aircraft.