In 2024 Boeing delivered 180 fewer commercial aircraft than 2023 after a year which began with the door plug failure on an Alaska Airline 737-9 Max.
Boeing has reported that for the year 348 passenger jets were delivered to customers and there were just 57 in the last quarter. This compares to 2023 when a total of 528 commercial airliners were delivered, with 157 delivered in the final quarter.
Rival Airbus reported that it had delivered 766 commercial aircraft during 2024. Airbus described 2024 as ‘good year’ despite missing delivery target. It delivered 766 commercial aircraft to 86 customers during 2024 and reported 878 gross new orders.
In July 2024 Airbus reduced its delivery target for the year from 800 planes to around 770, citing the shortage of engines and other key components.
After the Alaska Airlines incident on January 5, 2024, the US plane maker’s quality control suffered enormous damage to its long cherished reputation. The FAA launched a far-reaching investigation and limited aircraft production numbers. The head of the FAA Mike Whitaker said in December 2024 that “enhanced oversight” of Boeing is “here to stay”. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was replaced by Kelly Ortberg.
As of January 2024, Boeing was producing 38 737 Max jets per month. This rate was capped by the FAA due to safety concerns. Boeing’s goal is to increase production to 50 737 Max jets per month. Boeing has said it aims to return to its pre-strike production rate in 2025 and triple its current rate by 2027. However, the company has faced supply chain and manufacturing issues for over two years.
The American OEMs troubles were compounded when 30,000 workers went on strike for seven-weeks in September 2024 over pay and employment conditions. The recovery was protracted as, when workers returned to work, Boeing spent a month post-strike making sure the necessary safety steps were taken before restarting production.
The damage was not just to the platemaker’s backlog of deliveries but Boeing also saw its orders fall catastrophically 60% in 2024 with 1,456 secured in 2023 and only 569 in 2024.
Airbus CEO Christian Scherer said: “2024 confirmed sustained demand for new aircraft. We won key customer decisions with most important customers and saw phenomenal momentum for our widebody orderbook, complementing our leading position in the single aisle market. On deliveries, we kept our trajectory and celebrated several landmark firsts. These include the first ever A321XLR as well as first A330neo and A350 deliveries to several customers globally.”
To have achieved Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury’s delivery target for the year, the planemaker would have needed to deliver 127 aircraft in December 2024. However, it reports only 123 delivered. In comparison, in 2023, Airbus reached its yearly target of 720 deliveries, with 112 aircraft delivered in December 2023.
During 2024, 604 A320 family aircraft were delivered, followed by 75 A220 family aircraft, 57 A350 family aircraft and 32 A330 family aircraft.