After Boeing’s horrible year, annual race against Airbus is no contest
Jan. 14, 2020 at 8:44 am
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Boeing’s final tally of commercial jet orders and deliveries in 2019, released Tuesday, starkly displays just how bad the year was: Deliveries were down to a level last seen when all production was halted by a two-month strike and net orders were negative — with more cancellations than new orders.
The annual competition between rival jetmakers was no contest, with Airbus the runaway winner.
Airbus released its final sales and production tally Monday, showing it delivered a total of 863 jets and won 768 net new orders in 2019.
In contrast, Boeing delivered only 380 planes, the lowest total since a 57-day strike shut down production in 2008.
That doesn’t reflect total production. Boeing built around 400 of its 737 MAXs, but with the jet grounded they were parked with their engines and inlets wrapped for long-term storage. Boeing cannot deliver them.
In an indication of the paralysis gripping Boeing’s business, sales also plummeted. There were very few sales of the MAX offset by many more cancellations.
Boeing got a big boost at the Paris Air Show when British Airways announced its intention to place an order for 200 MAXs, but not surprisingly, it was never finalized. That’s unlikely to happen until the airplane gets clearance to fly again from U.S. and foreign regulators.
Net orders for the MAX came in at -73.
Boeing also suffered a net loss of orders for its upcoming 777X widebody jet, which ended the year down 23 orders after a big cancellation from Gulf carrier Emirates.
As a result, Boeing’s overall net order figure for the year was -87.
The MAX crisis has left Airbus the undisputed No. 1 airplane manufacturer.
More details and analysis of the data to come.
Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or
[email protected]; on Twitter: @dominicgates.