The midair blowout of a door-sized fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max on Jan. 5 dashed Boeing’s hopes for improved competitiveness this year. Hamstrung by the repercussions of that incident, the jet maker continues to trail European rival Airbus.
Airbus delivered 49 commercial airliners last month, including 39 of its A320neo/A321neo jet family.
It also delivered six of its smaller A220 jets, plus four widebody aircraft.
Boeing, its Max production line in Renton hampered by investigations, audits and regulatory restriction, delivered 27 jets, including just 17 Maxes, eight fewer than in January.
Boeing also delivered one 737-based P-8 military airframe, seven widebody 787 Dreamliners and two widebody 767s: one a freighter for FedEx and one an airframe for the KC-46 Air Force tanker.
While jet deliveries from both manufacturers were weak in January, as is typical each year, February saw Airbus pull away. In the two opening months of 2024, Airbus has delivered a total of 79 jets compared with the Boeing total of 54.
In terms of orders, Airbus had an impressive start to the year in January with 31 net orders.
Airbus added two more orders in February, for a total so far this year of 33 net orders, all of those for its big A350 widebody jets. Those orders include one from Delta for 20 of the largest model A350-1000.
Boeing had 15 net orders through February with new orders for 10 narrowbody Maxes and five widebody jets.
