Boeing Loses 'World's Largest Aircraft Manufacturer' Title to Airbus

Repeated Disasters of Boeing 737 Max Model

Last Year's Deliveries Limited to 380 Units

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] American airline manufacturer Boeing has lost the title of 'world's largest aircraft manufacturer' to Airbus. This is due to a significant decrease in aircraft deliveries caused by the repeated disasters involving the Boeing 737 Max model.

According to Boeing's announcement on the 2019 Q4 aircraft delivery performance on the 14th (local time), Boeing's aircraft deliveries last year amounted to only 380 units. This is less than half of Airbus's 863 units and marks the lowest level since 2007. It is the first time in eight years since 2011 that Airbus has surpassed Boeing in aircraft delivery performance.

Last year, Boeing recorded 87 more purchase cancellations than new orders for the first time in 30 years. This figure includes the cancellation of three Dreamliners last month.

Boeing delivered 253 twin-aisle aircraft, surpassing Airbus (80 units), but only delivered 127 single-aisle aircraft, falling far short of Airbus's 690 units.

Bloomberg reported that Boeing's poor performance is due to the repeated disasters of the Boeing 737 Max model. The Boeing 737 Max was grounded in 40 countries including the United States after the crashes of the Indonesian Lion Air passenger plane in 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane last year, which resulted in the deaths of all 346 passengers and crew.

David Calhoun, Boeing's new CEO, said, "We must restore the trust of shareholders, airlines, regulators, and customers," and added, "We need to maintain the supply chain and skilled workforce so that the factory in Renton, Washington can resume production of the Boeing 737 Max model."

The Boeing crisis has also dealt a significant blow to the U.S. economy. Boeing is the largest export manufacturer in the U.S., with about 8,000 companies supplying parts. Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing's largest supplier, recently announced plans to lay off 20% of its employees and indicated that further reductions are expected in the future.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated, "Due to the Boeing 737 Max crisis, the U.S. economic growth rate this year is expected to be 2.5%, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than the previous forecast."