Airbus pulls ahead as Boeing struggles

RENTON, Wash. — Airbus delivered more than twice as many commercial jets as Boeing in March, with the U.S. aerospace giant slowed by efforts to contain quality issues at its 737 Max assembly plant here in Renton.

Adding to Boeing’s woes, it delivered none of its wide body 777s in the first three months of the year due to a separate supply chain issue.

Airbus delivered 63 jets last month, while Boeing delivered just 29, according to data released last week.

Boeing’s tally included 24 Maxes. However, eight of those went to Chinese airlines, and those were likely taken from the large store of 737s parked since the grounding in 2019.

China began taking deliveries again only this year and Boeing has begun clearing that large backlog, with 17 going to China since January.

This means that in March no more than 16 newly built Maxes rolled off the assembly line, less than half of the production rate of 38 per month that had been an earlier target.

Boeing has had standdowns here, stopping the line for a day for employees to discuss quality concerns, and has slowed the pace of production to ensure that unfinished jobs don’t pile up as the planes move through assembly.

In contrast, Airbus delivered 51 of the A320neo jets that compete with the Max, and of those more than half were the largest A321neo model.

On the sales front, Airbus won a total of 137 net orders in March while Boeing won 111 net orders.

American Airlines split a large order in March, buying 85 A321neos from Airbus and 85 of the largest 737 Max 10s from Boeing.

In the first three months of the year, Airbus has won a total of 170 net orders and Boeing 126.