AviationGeeks.com - Who‘s bigger, Airbus vs. Boeing?

The Airbus vs. Boeing dispute has been going on for a long time. The fierce competition between the two companies has escalated in recent years as Airbus has managed to get side-by-side with Boeing in terms of sales and orders. 

The “war” between Airbus and Boeing can be traced all the way back to the launch of Airbus in the 1970, and ever since, Airbus has been slashing Boeing’s dominance in the civil aviation market. For quite some time now, Airbus and Boeing have been the only major players in the large jet market after Lockheed, Dornier and other competitors left the market. Although, Airbus and Boeing have been facing increased competition from the Embraer E-Jet and more recently the Bombardier CSeries in the medium range, narrow body market.

Both Airbus and Boeing has accused each other of receiving unfair state aid from the governments. Airbus has accused Boeing of receiving state aid through military contracts and NASA development as well as receiving unfair tax deductions which is in contrast with the bilateral agreement between the US and the EU. Boeing has accused Airbus of receiving unfair reimbursable launch investment which is loan from the governments of the EU to launch new aircraft types on much better interests than Airbus could get on the market. World Trade Organization has gotten involved in the dispute and is expected to rule against Airbus on most of Boeing’ complaints.

The size of the airframers can be measured based on orders, deliveries, employees, facilities, profits, sales etc…

Let’s start by comparing the orders of the two companies.

As we can see, Boeing had the upper hand for most of the 1990s while Airbus took the lead in early 2000s, but only by few orders. This year, Boeing’s orders are looking better than Airbus’s for the first time since 2007. Since 1990, Airbus had received 9,199 orders while Boeing has received 10,502. Boeing wins. But if we compare just this decade, than Airbus has received 5,951 orders while Boeing has received 5,828. Airbus wins by a slim margin.

 

Aircrafts delivered.

Boeing dominated the number of aircraft delivered up until early 2000s when Airbus exceeded Boeing. Since 2003, Airbus has delivered more aircraft than Boeing and it’s not likely to change this year. Since 1990, Airbus has delivered 5,902 aircrafts while Boeing has delivered 8,881. Boeing wins by a mile. But, if we take aircrafts delivered since 2000 Airbus has the lead. Since 2000, Airbus has delivered 3,960 aircraft while Boeing has delivered 3,897. Airbus wins.

Airbus’s (not its owner, EADS’) revenue in 2009 was just over $40 billion, an increase of 1 billion from 20008, while Boeings revenue was over $68 billion which was an increase of over 7 billion from the year before. Airbus’s profit in 2009 was $550 million while Boeing’s was $1.3 million. It’s obvious that when it comes to money and finances that Boeing has the lead.

Airbus has 52,000 employees while Boeing has almost 160,000.

It’s difficult to compare the two companies because for example within Boeing there are commercial airliners, military and space, along with several subsidiaries while Airbus has just airliners and defense, but the parent company, EADS has several subsidiaries. But in terms of airframe produced, Airbus has the lead, while Boeing has the lead when it comes to profit and finances.

Airbus statistics are from www.airbus.com and EADS financial statements

Boeing statistics are from www.boeing.com and its financial statements