Airbus SAS said on Tuesday it beat Boeing Co with 1,456 net orders last year, but despite handing over a record 629 planes to airlines last year, it is still trailing its US rival in deliveries of commercial passenger jets.
The European aerospace company said in a statement that the results “exceeded its targets for 2014” and that at the end of last year it “commanded more than 50 percent market share for aircraft above 100 seats.”
Airbus said its second-best year ever for new orders propelled it to an industry record backlog of 6,386 aircraft valued at US$919.3 billion at list prices.
Boeing, which announced its sales and delivery figures last week, had been leading in the orders category throughout the year, but as frequently happens, Airbus announced a number of deals last month.
Boeing delivered a record 723 aircraft and took in a record 1,432 orders last year, with its unfilled orders also climbing to a record 5,789 planes.
While the companies focus on the order numbers as they seek to woo even more clients, analysts and investors concentrate on the delivery numbers as the manufacturers get paid when they hand over a plane to airlines.
Airbus chief executive officer Fabrice Bregier proclaimed last year to be “an excellent year” in releasing the company’s final annual figures.
“We will this year deliver slightly higher numbers of aircrafts,” Bregier said at a press conference.
Despite trailing Boeing in overall deliveries, Airbus edged out Boeing in the biggest segment of single-aisle medium-haul aircraft. Airbus delivered 490 of its A320 aircraft, while Boeing handed over 485 of its 737 planes to airlines.
These aircraft also accounted for the most new orders: 1,321 of Airbus’ 1,456 orders last year.
However, Airbus missed its target of selling 30 of its superjumbo A380 aircraft, which can carry between 525 and 850 passengers in different seat configurations, with just 14 net orders.
“We believe we will get additional customers this year,” Bregier said of the A380.
He noted the project would break even this year and had more than two years’ worth of orders at the current production rate of about 30 aircraft per year.
The Toulouse-based manufacturer also announced on Tuesday a longer-range version of its A320 aircraft that it says will able to make transatlantic flights, after having received a preliminary order of 30 of the planes from Air Lease Corp.
The A321neo that is scheduled to enter service in 2019 will have a maximum range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,408km), slightly more than the single aisle Boeing 757 that is no longer in production.
However, Boeing executives on Tuesday expressed skepticism at demand for the new Airbus A321neo, saying that some estimates of the market for the new aircraft were unrealistic.
“The thought of a 1,000-plane market of an airplane that size is frankly a little bit laughable,” Randy Tinseth, vice president for marketing in Boeing’s commercial airplane division, said on a conference call to review Boeing’s performance last year.
Tinseth said the “heart” of the market for mid-size planes is for models of the size of its 737 Max 8 plane, which has maximum range of about 3,660 nautical miles (6,778km).
He said demand for larger planes accounts for only 20 to 30 percent of the market. He described the Airbus plane as a catch-up to Boeing’s 737 Max 9 plane.
John Wojick, a senior vice president of global sales and marketing, said Boeing believes there could be a market for larger planes. However, the US aerospace giant is not sure how big it is.
Like their counterparts from Airbus, Boeing executives downplayed the impact of lower fuel prices on plane orders.
Tinseth said the drop in prices has not affected customer orders. He said the drop in fuel prices provides a “tailwind” to customer profits, allowing the brisk pace of orders to continue.
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