To work this out, we could just look at new orders or deliveries. However, we thought we’d dive slightly deeper into the situation with the help of data from the manufacturers themselves, fleet data from ch-aviation.com, and schedule data from aviation data experts Cirium. So, who won 2021?
Aircraft delivered
Let’s start by looking at the aircraft delivered during 2021. While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has still been felt by many airlines, deliveries picked up. The year was both good and bad news for Boeing. While the American planemaker was able to start clearing its backlog of Boeing 737 MAX jets, deliveries of the 787 were practically non-existent for much of the year.
According to Boeing’s official delivery report, the aerospace giant delivered 302 planes between January and November, with 36 customers ranging from Aeroflot to WestJet. 213 of these, or around two-thirds, were Boeing 737 MAX planes. Just 14 were the 787 Dreamliners, all delivered across two months in Q2.
Airbus appears to have faired better, with none of its products facing delivery pauses. The planemaker reports that it delivered 518 planes to 80 different customers from January to November.
Deliveries winner: Airbus
New aircraft ordered
As with deliveries, new aircraft orders have also been impacted by the pandemic for a second year running, though things are looking up. Both manufacturers saw a couple of sizable orders placed during the Dubai Airshow, with more orders scattered through the year. Going by the Dubai Airshow alone, it would seem that Airbus had one the year by a landslide, but this may not be the case just yet.
Excluding the effect of cancelations, Airbus clocked 610 new orders during the year, ranging from five A350s for Lufthansa to 102 A321neos for Wizz Air. In contrast, Boeing has so far taken 829 orders from different customers throughout the year, including 100 MAXs for Southwest and 200 for United.
Of course, Airbus could still edge ahead before the year is out. Both manufacturers have only listed their data until November 30th. Yesterday Simple Flying reported that ALC had confirmed a considerable order, while Air France-KLM placed a sizeable A320/A350F order before Christmas.
New orders winner: Boeing
Active fleets
Many aircraft worldwide remain grounded, such as most of the A380 fleet due to COVID-19 or the United 777-200 fleet after an uncontained engine failure earlier this year. But which manufacturer has the most planes active as of today? Simple Flying turned to ch-aviation.com for the answer.
According to ch-aviation’s data, there are currently 9,214 active Airbus aircraft flying with 426 different carriers, including 7,462 narrowbodies, 1,653 widebodies, and a handful of other aircraft. Alongside many Airbus A380s, Qatar Airways has grounded a significant number of its Airbus A350 fleet as it looks to take Airbus to court in London over paint scheme issues.
Again, it seems that Boeing edges ahead with the most active aircraft. According to ch-aviation.com’s data, there are currently 10,726 operational Boeing aircraft belonging to 583 different carriers. Narrowbody jets make up 7,634 aircraft, while widebodies comprise 3,092 jets.
Active fleets winner: Boeing
Most flights in 2021
Using schedule data from aviation data experts Cirium, we can see how many flights have been scheduled with Airbus and Boeing aircraft throughout 2021. In total, 18,309,109 flights were planned for passenger and cargo jets from the two manufacturers, accounting for around 62% of the total flights for 2021.
Airbus and Boeing took the number one and two spots in terms of flights per manufacturer. Boeing accounted for 8,907,948 flights during the year, meaning that Airbus edged slightly ahead with 9,401,161 flights scheduled for the year.
Source: Civil Aviation Authority – Qatar