There is light at the end of the tunnel for Airbus, which earlier today conceded defeat to rival Boeing on total civil airliner orders for 2006, with analysis of its 2006 orders and deliveries showing the European airframer clawing some of the share of the US company's traditional lead on orders for widebody aircraft.
Net 2006 orders for the A300, A330 family, A340 family, A350 and A380 variants together stood at 137, down six units from last year's total of 143. This compares with 315 widebody units sold by Boeing of the 747-400, 747-8, 767, 777 and 787 types, down from 447 in 2005.
Airbus's share of the high-value twin aisle airliner market has increased to 30% compared with Boeing's 70%. This is a rise from 24% in 2005, with 103 sales of A330 variants contributing. However, Airbus has seen its share of the backlog of the high value category decline five percentage points to 39% at the end of last year from 44% at 31 December 2005.
In backlog terms, Airbus has 567 widebodies at the end of 2006, up from 525 at the same time last year, while Boeing's backlog of aircraft on order yet to be delivered stood at 895 units at the end of 2006, compared with 671 at the end of 2005. This gives Boeing a 61% share of the total 1,462-aircraft widebody backlog.
Finally, Airbus delivered 95 widebodies last year, six more than the 89 in 2005, while Boeing delivered 91 units up from 63 last year, moving Boeing's share of deliveries from 41% in 2005 to 49% last year. This represents a share of 51% in 2006 for Airbus, down from 59% last year.
AIRBUS AND BOEING 2006 PERFORMANCE AGAINST 2005 | ||||||
Deliveries |
Net orders |
Backlog | ||||
2006 |
2005 |
2006 |
2005 |
End 2006 |
End 2005 | |
Airbus |
||||||
A300 |
9 |
9 |
0 |
-30 |
6 |
15 |
A310 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
A318 |
8 |
9 |
-7 |
36 |
54 |
69 |
A319 |
137 |
142 |
258 |
209 |
567 |
446 |
A320 |
164 |
121 |
272 |
564 |
1,067 |
959 |
A321 |
30 |
17 |
130 |
103 |
278 |
178 |
A330 |
62 |
56 |
103 |
54 |
227 |
186 |
A340 |
24 |
24 |
12 |
12 |
61 |
73 |
A350 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
87 |
102 |
87 |
A380 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
20 |
166 |
159 |
TOTAL |
434 |
378 |
790 |
1,055 |
2,533 |
2,177 |
Market share |
52.2% |
56.6% |
43.1% |
51.3% |
50.8% |
54.6% |
Boeing |
||||||
717 |
5 |
13 |
0 |
-14 |
0 |
5 |
737 |
302 |
212 |
729 |
569 |
1,560 |
1133 |
747-400 |
14 |
13 |
12 |
25 |
42 |
44 |
747-8 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
18 |
78 |
18 |
757 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
767 |
12 |
10 |
10 |
15 |
28 |
30 |
777 |
65 |
40 |
76 |
154 |
299 |
288 |
787 |
0 |
0 |
157 |
235 |
448 |
291 |
Total |
398 |
290 |
1,044 |
1,002 |
2,455 |
1,809 |
Market share |
47.8% |
43.4% |
56.9% |
48.7% |
49.2% |
45.4% |
Grand total |
832 |
668 |
1,834 |
2,057 |
4,988 |
3,986 |
Source: FlightGlobal.com
