Airbus vs. Boeing: Who wins the war of the aeronautical giants at the Paris Air Show?

The Paris Air Show opened its doors on Monday. It's the world's largest aerospace event, with 2,400 exhibitors from 48 countries. For Airbus and Boeing, it's always an opportunity to impress with numerous major contract announcements. A total of 1,214 aircraft were sold during the 2023 edition, a record.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced on Tuesday an order for 100 A321neo aircraft, with a theoretical value of nearly $13 billion, from Vietnamese airline Vietjet.

In total, the six editions held over the past fifteen years have totaled 5,401 aircraft ordered, representing 40% of the two groups' total orders since 2010. And experts expect this year to break the 1,000-order mark again. The first day was won by a landslide by Airbus with 123 orders compared to Boeing's zero.

The American company is obviously impacted by the crash of the Air India Boeing 787 a few days ago. Indeed, the 787 Dreamliner is the world's best-selling wide-body aircraft, with over 2,000 orders. It had never experienced a fatal accident and had a good safety record. This disaster comes as Boeing seemed to be definitively turning the page on the 737 Max crisis, its single-aisle aircraft whose two crashes in 2018 and 2019 caused 346 deaths.

Production was ramping up, with deliveries up 60% year-on-year in the first quarter. Boeing, criticized as a company run by financiers in contrast to Airbus, which was seen as an engineering company, was beginning to regain customer confidence. This recovery is now in jeopardy. And it's possible that airlines will shift their focus to the A350, the 787's rival.

In fact, the real challenge for manufacturers is less about securing orders than about meeting their deliveries. At Boeing, investors will have their eyes elsewhere than on contracts, but at Airbus, too, ultimately. Order books are full, and the delivery of an Airbus A320 is 10 years away. However, what the airlines and the stock market are scrutinizing is manufacturers' ability to meet delivery deadlines. Particularly for the small single-aisle aircraft. Airbus plans to produce 75 aircraft per month of this family by 2027. A target the company has pushed back twice in the past. And it will have to work hard to deliver the 820 aircraft promised this year.