Airbus and Boeing - statistics & facts

History of Airbus and Boeing

Airbus Group serves as Europe's counterpart to the Boeing Company. During the mid-1990s, several European aerospace and defense contractors, such as DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) and Aérospatiale-Matra, were looking to take advantage of the newly formed European Union and eurozone by merging into a single entity. The resulting merger took place in July of 2000 and led to a newly formed company known as the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). After 14 years of operation, EADS reorganized the company into the Airbus Group, with three primary divisions in aircraft, airspace, and helicopter manufacturing.
The Boeing Company was incorporated in 1916 by William E. Boeing out of Seattle, Washington as "Pacific Aero Products Co". Boeing's background in wooden structure design is believed to have inspired his future design and assembly of airplanes. To benefit from the abundance of spruce wood in the area, Seattle remained as the primary manufacturing location.

Airbus and Boeing today

Today, the Airbus Group has several manufacturing sites across Europe, while employing 131,300 people globally. Boeing has become one of the largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft and an important defense contractor for many countries worldwide. Boeing’s 737 aircraft series have emerged as the company’s best sellers. However, the 737 MAX 8 aircraft model has come under scrutiny after a sequence of crashes. Boeing 737 gross orders experienced a slump in 2019, and cancellations outpaced new orders for the 737 model family.

Impact of coronavirus on Airbus and Boeing

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit the aviation industry to a great extent. This was mostly due to the nature of business activities that require close proximity between passengers for many hours to travel across the globe. Countries across the world imposed lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus which impeded airline groups to operate for many months. Thus, the entire aviation industry is in a large recessionary business cycle. Therefore, most of the air carriers cancelled mainline aircraft orders to reduce risk exposures and financial commitments. As of July 2020, over 300 Boeing 737 Max and roughly 29 Airbus A320 family aircraft orders were cancelled. As many countries are facing the third wave of COVID-19, the short-term future of aviation is quite uncertain.

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