Air transport

Between Airbus and Boeing comes Comac's Chinese challenge

The C919 competitor to European and American narrowbodies debuts at the Singapore show

by Mara Monti - Toulouse by reporter

21 February 2024

Il nuovo centro di Airbus a Tolosa per la consegna dei nuovi aerei

4' min read

Key points

Airbus and the new delivery centre for the long-awaited delivery wave
The challenge of producing thousands of planes
Boeing's crisis and safety focus
Record of orders for Airbus and Boeing
Chinese manufacturers' challenge in the aviation sector

4' min read

Two planes destined for Delhi and Guatemala City are on their way from Toulouse to the headquarters of their respective airlines, Air India and Avianca. They have just left the Airbus factory and are shining in the southern French sunshine, their tails decorated with the carriers' logos. While waiting for their flight, they are parked at the new aircraft delivery centre together with the other aircraft destined for IndiGo and British Airways, which are also ready for delivery.

Airbus and the new delivery centre for the long-awaited wave of deliveries

The Airbus headquarters complex near Blagnac International Airport just outside Toulouse in the south of France is testimony to how quickly the European company is growing: last summer a new assembly line was opened in Toulouse to support the development of the A321neo. And it recently cut the ribbon on the new, elegant delivery centre welcoming its customers, in time to prepare for the wave of deliveries expected in the coming years.

Airbus si prepara all’ondata di consegne dei prossimi anni

Gli interni dell’elegante delivery centre di Airbus a Tolosa

"We are delivering more planes than expected and will continue to deliver more this year," explained Jill Lawrie, head of the Airbus customer experience team, speaking from the observation deck of the new building where she can see the hangar that produced the A380 superjumbo now converted into a new production line for the A321neo.

The challenge of producing thousands of aircraft

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, at the presentation of annual figures, set a delivery target for this year of 800 aircraft (735 in 2023), described as a 'good compromise' between demand still at record levels and supply chain difficulties. Of these, 610 belong to the Airbus320 family, the core business of commercial aircraft of which the manufacturer has 62% of the single-aisle aircraft market: Airbus and Boeing produce most of the world's airliners, but after the crisis of the American competitor, Toulouse is widening the gap.

The challenge is to produce the thousands of aircraft that airlines around the world have already ordered, requests for 8,598 aircraft equivalent to a 12-year production run. A race slowed only by supply chain problems that have made it harder to keep up with demand, not by air traffic, which is still estimated to grow by 5.5% this year, exceeding pre-Covid levels.

For Airbus, analysts believe the production rate is set to rise in the medium term: Bank of America estimates deliveries of 900 aircraft in 2024 and almost 1100 of which 780 narrowbodies in 2025. Faury's strategy is cautious, it does not want to show rushing and take advantage of competitor weakness, as evidenced by the confirmation of the A320neo production target of 75 aircraft per month by 2026, a jump from around 50-55 aircraft per month in 2023. Yet investors were expecting more aggressive targets given the privileged position compared to the competition and penalised the stock by sending it down on the Paris Stock Exchange, although it remained up 7% since the beginning of the year.

Il portellone staccato dell’Alaska Airlines

Boeing had planned to increase the production of its narrow-body 737 MAX model to 50 aircraft per month by 2025, but had to suspend its forecasts after an accident last January in which an Alaskan Airlines 737 MAX 9 tailgate burst shortly after take-off.

The Boeing crisis and the focus on safety

That episode shook Airbus' main rival, forcing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to focus on reassuring customers, regulators, and the public that the company is prioritising safety over profits. The crisis has forced Boeing to slow production of the 737 Max after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed limits on production increases on all 737 Max aircraft until the company can demonstrate that it has resolved its quality control issues.

Record of orders for Airbus and Boeing

Yet the year had ended with record numbers for both manufacturers, who had amassed an order book of almost 15,000 aircraft, +23% in 12 months equal to about 10 years of production, according to calculations by the consultancy firm AlixPartners. Boeing maintains its supremacy in wide-body aircraft with 64% of the market and orders up 49% to 1,417 (+469 aircraft) in 2023: most of the orders are concentrated on the 787 Dreamliner and the 777x yet to be certified, while the 767 is destined to go out of production. The cash cow models represented by the Max reached an order book of 4,799 jets and 396 deliveries in 2023.

The challenge of Chinese manufacturers in the aviation sector

Il Comac C919 per sfidare Airbus e Boeing: non è autorizzato a volare in Europa e negli Usa

Closing the gap between Boeing and Airbus could be the Chinese Commercial Aircraft Company (Comac) with the C919 the competitor to the A321 and the B737 MAX. These days the Singapore Air Show is being held (20-25 February), which is reopening for the first time after the pandemic. Here, Chinese aircraft are also trying to make inroads into Western markets, exploiting the difficulties of the two main manufacturers stifled by excessive orders. According to the Chinese media, the company has received over 1,000 orders for its C919, even though the aircraft is currently only certified in China so it cannot be purchased by Western airlines. As in the case of Chinese airline Tibet Airlines, which placed an order for 40 C919s and 10 Comac ARJ21 regional jets, announced on the first day of the show. Four C919s are currently operating with China Eastern Airlines. With the debut of the C919 at the show, for the first time the aircraft leaves Chinese territory in the hope of taking flight to other shores.