Boeing reclaims top spot in annual orders over Airbus

SEATTLE

Boeing secured orders for nearly 1,200 commercial planes last year, topping European rival Airbus for the first time since 2018.

The U.S. aviation giant booked 175 orders in December, taking the total for 2025 to 1,173.

Airbus on Jan. 12  disclosed net orders of 889 aircraft for the year.

Boeing still lags behind Airbus in terms of the total number of undelivered planes following stumbles in the wake of fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes of the 737 MAX that have weighed on the US company.

But Boeing on Jan. 13 also received a boost from an order by Delta Air Lines to purchase 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with options for 30 more of the widebody jet.

Boeing said it delivered 63 planes in December, taking the annual total to 600 for all of 2025.

While that figure marked the most since 2018 and a big jump from the strike-plagued 2024 season, it came in well below the 793 delivered by Airbus.

Airbus has dominated deliveries in recent years in the aftermath of the two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX planes that occurred in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Airbus also still holds a sizeable advantage in terms of orders, pointing to a backlog of 8,754 at the end of 2025.

Boeing currently lists 6,720 unfilled orders with a backlog of 6,130 after an adjustment under U.S. accounting standards.

Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said the 2025 result was positive for Boeing, but needs to be weighed against the accumulated orders, which is a "better benchmark," he said.