The Airbus-Boeing duopoly is now decades old, and competition between the two companies is intense, to say the least. 2020 was practically a write-off for Boeing thanks to the 737 MAX grounding. With the type back in the skies, who came out on top in 2021?

To work this out, we could just look at new orders or deliveries, though that doesn't really tell the full story. We thought we'd dive slightly deeper into the situation looking at both Airbus and Boeing to help answer the question "which planemaker won 2021?"

UPDATE: 2022/04/06 15:30 UTC BY TOM BOON

Data updated

Simple Flying updated this article to take account of the full year, as the original article was published a few days before the end of 2021 based on data from January to November.

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The year brought ups and downs for both carriers. Photo: Getty Images

Aircraft delivered

Let's start by looking at the aircraft delivered during 2021. While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was still being felt by many airlines, deliveries picked up for both planemakers. In the case of Boeing, the year was both good and bad news. While the American planemaker was able to start clearing its backlog of Boeing 737 MAX jets, deliveries of the 787 were practically non-existent for much of the year.

According to Boeing's official delivery report, the aerospace giant delivered 340 planes during the calendar year, with customers ranging from Aeroflot to WestJet. 245 of these, or around 72%, were Boeing 737 MAX planes. Just 14 were the 787 Dreamliners, all delivered across two months in Q2.

American Southwest United Boeing 737 MAX
Photo: Getty Images

Airbus appears to have faired better, with none of its products facing delivery pauses. The planemaker reports that it delivered 611 planes to many different customers across the year, giving it an increase of 80% on Boeing.

Deliveries winner: Airbus

New aircraft ordered

As with deliveries, new aircraft orders were also been impacted by the pandemic for a second year running, though things are looking up. Both manufacturers saw a couple of sizable orders placed during the Dubai Airshow, with more orders scattered through the year. Going by the Dubai Airshow alone, it would seem that Airbus had won the year by a landslide, but this may not be the case just yet.

Excluding the effect of cancelations, Airbus clocked 771 new orders during the year, ranging from A350s for Lufthansa to A321neos for Wizz Air. In contrast, Boeing took 909 orders from different customers throughout the year, including 140 MAXs for Southwest and 258 for United.

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Indigo Partners placed a huge order at the 2021 Dubai Airshow. Photo: Airbus

Of course, gross orders are just a part of the story. While planemakers are keen to shout about new aircraft orders, they typically won't shout about cancelations. Thankfully, Reuters kept track of orders and cancelations to generate net orders (new orders minus cancelations recorded in the year). According to the publication, Airbus clocked 507 net orders, while the figure stood at 497 for Boeing.

While this gave Airbus a majority market share, the division is only 51/49, or ten aircraft. Interestingly, Airbus had 268 net orders in 2020 meaning an increase of 89%. Boeing practically reversed its fortunes year on year, going from net orders of -471 in 2020.

New orders winner: Draw

Active fleets

Many aircraft worldwide remain grounded, such as much of the A380 fleet due to COVID-19 or the United 777-200 fleet after an uncontained engine failure earlier last year. But which manufacturer has the most planes active as of today? Simple Flying turned to ch-aviation.com for the answer.

According to ch-aviation's data at the end of December 2020, there were 9,214 active Airbus aircraft flying with 426 different carriers, including 7,462 narrowbodies, 1,653 widebodies, and a handful of other aircraft. Alongside many Airbus A380s, Qatar Airways has grounded a significant number of its Airbus A350 fleet as it prepares to face Airbus in court over paint scheme issues.

Etihad Airways, Airbus A380, Return
Photo: Getty Images

Again, it seems that Boeing edges ahead with the most active aircraft. According to ch-aviation.com's data, there were 10,726 operational Boeing aircraft belonging to 583 different carriers. Narrowbody jets made up 7,634 aircraft, while widebodies comprised 3,092 jets.

Active fleets winner: Boeing

Most flights in 2021

Using schedule data from aviation data experts Cirium, we can see how many flights were scheduled with Airbus and Boeing aircraft throughout 2021. In total, 18,309,109 flights were planned for passenger and cargo jets from the two manufacturers, accounting for around 62% of the total flights for 2021.

Airbus and Boeing took the number one and two spots in terms of flights per manufacturer. Boeing accounted for 8,907,948 flights during the year, meaning that Airbus edged slightly ahead with 9,401,161 flights scheduled for the year.

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More passenger and cargo flights were scheduled with Airbus aircraft last year. Photo: Airbus

While Airbus is the overall winner in this category, Boeing was behind far more widebody flights with 1,103,294 flights compared to 645,220 with Airbus aircraft. The gap between narrowbody operations was slightly more significant at: Airbus 8,744,941 - 7,804,654 Boeing.

Most flights winner: Airbus

Aircraft scrapped or written off in 2021

We move back to data from our friends over at ch-aviation.com in this category. While it's common for aircraft to be scrapped at the end of their lives, to judge this category, we're looking for the manufacturer that has seen the fewest aircraft scrapped or withdrawn during the year.

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Airbus has seen some high-profile aircraft scrapped during the year. A couple of months ago, Singapore Airlines scrapped a couple of its earlier Airbus A380s. Meanwhile, Emirates took apart the first Airbus A380 that it took delivery of a couple of months before taking delivery of its last Airbus A380.

Singapore Airlines, Airbus A380, Scrapped
More Boeing aircraft were scrapped or written off last year. Photo: Getty Images

With that in mind, 87 Airbus aircraft were scrapped or written off during the year, including a former Lufthansa jet bound to be upcycled. Surprisingly, more Boeing aircraft were scrapped or written off during 2021. The portal reports that 130 Boeing jets were scrapped last year, including 48 Boeing 747s. Many airlines sought to retire Boeing 747s when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Aircraft scrapped winner: Airbus

The final result

All in all, it seems as though Airbus has edged ahead as the winner in 2021, though the gap doesn't seem to be as significant as last year.

  • Aircraft delivered: Airbus
  • Aircraft ordered: Draw
  • Active fleet: Boeing
  • Most flights: Airbus
  • Aircraft scrapped: Airbus

Airbus 3 - 1 Boeing

Of course, the year has had its ups and downs for both carriers. Airbus has been embroiled in the aforementioned A350 paint issue with Qatar Airways with other carriers reportedly affected. Meanwhile, Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries still haven't resumed three months into 2022. That being said, the Boeing 737 MAX was been ungrounded in many territories last year, and continues to perform strongly for the American planemaker.

Which manufacturer won 2021 in your eyes? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!

Sources: Airbus, Boeing, Cirium, ch-aviation.com, Reuters