France’s Airbus is the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, not Boeing, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon. The company reported earnings Thursday, and it told analysts that it’s looking to take advantage of its rival’s struggles.
“We are indeed in a quite more short-term and very aggressive competition with our competitor, and we wanted to take benefit of the current periods,” CEO Guillaume Faury said. His company is expecting to deliver 800 commercial aircraft this year, up from last year’s 735.
While Boeing has had to cap production on its next-generation 737 Max planes amid heightened US government scrutiny, Airbus is expecting to ramp up production. Because the companies are the two biggest names in town when it comes to aviation, the misfortunes of one can quickly become the fortunes of the other.
Boeing had the upper hand for years until the last major 737 Max crisis, which saw its planes grounded and its order book dry up. Airbus took the lead and hasn’t looked back since.