Boeing annual orders top Airbus for first time since 2018

Airbus on Monday disclosed net orders of 889 aircraft for the year.

Boeing still lags behind Airbus in terms of the total number of undelivered planes following stumbles in the wake of fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes of the 737 MAX that have weighed on the US company.

But Boeing on Tuesday also received a boost from an order by Delta Air Lines to purchase 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with options for 30 more of the widebody jet.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC that the company was the only major US carrier without the popular plane but it was "confident" based on Boeing's efforts under Kelly Ortberg, who joined as chief executive in 2024.

"Watching the progress that the team has made, we realize that turnaround is still in midst," Bastian said.

Delta's order was not included in Boeing's 2025 figures. 

- Progress with FAA -

The improvement in orders marks the latest sign of progress for Boeing after a bruising 2024. Last year opened with a near-catastrophic emergency landing on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, and concluded with the restart of plane production in the Seattle region following a lengthy labor strike.

After the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing fortified its quality control and manufacturing operations under close scrutiny by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

In October, the FAA granted approval to Boeing to increase production on the 737 MAX to 42 per month from 38, a key sign of progress.

"Our team did great work throughout 2025 to improve the on-time delivery of safe, quality airplanes to our customers to support their growth and modernization plans," said Boeing commercial plane chief Stephanie Pope.

"We're focused on getting better every day and building on the momentum in the year ahead."

Boeing said it delivered 63 planes in December, taking the annual total to 600 for all of 2025.

While that figure marked the most since 2018 and a big jump from the strike-plagued 2024 season, it came in well below the 793 delivered by Airbus.

Airbus has dominated deliveries in recent years in the aftermath of the two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX planes that occurred in 2018 and 2019, respectively. 

Airbus also still holds a sizeable advantage in terms of orders, pointing to a backlog of 8,754 at the end of 2025.

Boeing currently lists 6,720 unfilled orders with a backlog of 6,130 after an adjustment under US accounting standards.

Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said the 2025 result was positive for Boeing, but needs to be weighed against the accumulated orders, which is a "better benchmark," he said.

Boeing's outpacing of Airbus' orders in 2025 is "a nice bit of news for Boeing, but it is just one year in a competition for a very large market that plays out over decades," Owens said in an email to AFP.

Boeing shares rose 2.0 percent.

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