Boeing (BA) Outpaces Airbus In Q1 Orders, Deliveries

Despite winning 14 new orders in March, Airbus Group managed a net total of only 10 new orders during the first three months of 2016 due to 22 cancellations, 15 of which came last month. By comparison, Boeing won 122 net orders, after counting 18 cancellations, from the beginning of the year till April 5.

In terms of deliveries too, Chicago-headquartered Boeing left its Toulouse, France, rival Airbus behind. The U.S. firm delivered 176 aircraft during the first quarter of 2016, compared to 125 planes delivered by the French company in the same period.

Both companies, however, seem to be struggling to sell their biggest planes. Of Boeing’s 122 net orders for the quarter, only four were for its 747-8 jumbo jet. And while Airbus reported two new orders for its wide-body superjumbo A380 during the quarter, it also registered two cancellations for the same aircraft.

The Airbus A380, which has a planned 840-seat configuration, has been facing other problems too. The recent cancellations reportedly come from another French company, Air Austral, based on the French island territory of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Air France-KLM also said last month it had cancelled its order for two A380 planes, and Virgin Atlantic Airways has also said it will not take delivery of six A380 aircraft it had ordered, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In January, Iran had signed a deal with Airbus for purchase of over 100 aircraft, including some A380s, but that deal does not reflect in the Airbus order book so far.

The only category where Airbus seems to steal a march over Boeing is the delivery backlog. The French aerospace giant had a backlog of 6,716 deliveries as on March 31, opposed to Boeing, which had 5,740 unfilled orders on that date.