Boeing faces a steep climb in catching up to Airbus

Four years ago, Airbus scored a major victory: For the first time in its history, more of its passenger planes were flying around the world than those made by its rival, Boeing.

- NIRAJ CHOKSHI

Airbus has only tightened its grip on the market since.

Shifting the balance of power back in Boeing's favor will be one of the most difficult challenges facing its new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, who started last week. Pulling that off will require navigating the industrywide challenges hampering both firms while also landing a string of successes starting with getting plane production back on track.

"Boeing is in a situation that is way more difficult than Airbus," said Saïma Hussain, an analyst at AlphaValue, an equity research firm. "Airbus is gaining market share while Boeing needs to recover."

The two companies form a duopoly in the global passenger plane market, but Airbus has far outproduced and outsold Boeing in recent years. Airbus has delivered over 3,800 planes to customers since the start of 2019, while Boeing has handed about 2,100, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider.