Transport

Boeing beats rival Airbus in battle to deliver most aircraft

US-based aircraft delivered a record 723 commercial planes last year

Airbus A350 programme chief Didier Evrard, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus Tom Williams, Airbus unit chief executive Fabrice Bregier and Airbus chief operating officer-customers John Leahy arrive for the Airbus annual news conference in Colomiers, near Toulouse. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters
Airbus A350 programme chief Didier Evrard, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus Tom Williams, Airbus unit chief executive Fabrice Bregier and Airbus chief operating officer-customers John Leahy arrive for the Airbus annual news conference in Colomiers, near Toulouse. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters
Tue Jan 13 2015 - 11:35

Planemaker Boeing has beaten big rival Airbus in the battle to deliver the most aircraft in 2014.

Seattle-based Boeing delivered a record 723 commercial planes last year, while Airbus — whose planes’ wings are made in the UK — delivered 629.

Toulouse-based Airbus could console itself with the fact that its delivery total for 2014 was an all-time high and was the company’s 13th successive year of growth.

In 2014, Boeing booked 1,432 net orders while Airbus’s equivalent figure was 1,456. Boeing commercial airplanes president and chief executive Ray Conner described the company’s performance last year as “truly unprecedented”.

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Airbus president and chief executive Fabrice Bregier said 2014 had been “an excellent year”.