Airbus is about to overshadow a record that Boeing holds for decades

The narrow body made in the United States, already used for more than a decade, had reshaped the air transport industry by making shorter routes cheaper and more profitable to operate. In 1988, when Airbus began to produce his A320 arrival, Boeing had built a formidable lead by delivering some 1,500 of his cigar-shaped bestseller.

This took the most of four decades, but Airbus finally caught up: the A320 series is ready to exceed its American competitor as the most delivered commercial airliner in history, according to the Cirium aviation consulting firm. At the beginning of August, Airbus had defeated the gap at only 20 units, with 12,150 expeditions for life A320-Family, according to data. This difference should disappear next month.

“Did anyone wait until it could become number one-and on such high production volumes?” Max Kingsley-Jones, head of the Council at Cirium Ascend, wrote about the A320 in a recent social media position. “I certainly didn’t do it, and no longer Airbus.”

The success of the A320 reflects the rise of the European Planemaker of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plane of the plan of the plan of the plane plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plane of the plane of the plan of the plane plan of the plan of the plan of the plan of the plane of the plane of the plane, and of Boeing is ultimately better. In the early 2000s, the annual deliveries of the A320 and its derivatives had exceeded the 737 family; Total orders overshadowed the Boeing Jet in 2019. But the 737 was stubbornly remained the most delivered commercial aircraft of all time.

At the start, Airbus faced a difficult battle. The European plan plan plan plan, an assembly of aerospace manufacturers was formed in 1970 with the support of European governments, has not yet offered a full range of aircraft. The intestine struggles have embarrassed everything, from the planning of manufacturing products, and leadership decisions had to balance French and German commercial and political interests.

However, it was clear even when Iirbus needed a presence in the segment of the narrow body to settle firmly as the best rival in Boeing. These aircraft are by far the most broad category of commercial aviation, generally connecting the pairs of cities to shorter routes.

Higher fuel costs and the deregulation of the American aeronautical industry in the late 1970s had given to the European plant plan plan with American airline leaders, who called for a whole new monocarm, in the history of Airbus written by journalist Nicola Clark.

To distinguish the A320, Airbus has taken risks. He selected digital commands on the wire fly which made it possible to gain weight on traditional hydraulic systems and gave the pilots a side stick in the right hand or left instead of a centrally mounted yoke. The plane also remained above the ground than the 737 and came with a choice of two engines, offering customers greater flexibility.

Airbus bet has borne fruit. Today, the A320 and the 737 represent almost half of the world fleet of jet of passenger in service. And the success of the A320 contrasts with strategic errors such as the giant A380 which turned out to be short -lived because the airlines could not operate in a profitable manner on the giant plane. Boeing argued that smaller and more agitated plans like the 787 Dreamliner would have an advantage – a prediction that turned out to be correct.

Read more: Boeing’s difficulties give Airbus a chance of aviation domination

However, the long -standing domination of the two narrow bodies raises questions about the vitality of a duopoly system which promotes the stability of innovation. The two airplane manufacturers have repeatedly opted in increasing changes that remove the effectiveness of their best -selling models, rather than following the most expensive design route of a replacement aircraft from zero.

Airbus was the first to introduce new engines in its A320, transforming the NEO variant into a huge success with airlines seeking to reduce their fuel bill. Under pressure, Boeing followed, but his approach turned out to be a calamite. The American planter proposed the maximum 737, endearing more powerful engines on the aging and warehouse of the plane.

He installed an automated flight stabilization function called MCAS to help manage the higher thrust and balance the plane. The regulators then noted that the MCAS contributed to two deadly maximum accidents of 737 which led to a global grounding of the jet for 20 months, from 2019.

More recently, Airbus has been disrupted by problems with the fuel economical engines that feed the A320neo. High -tech coatings that allow its Pratt & Whitney turbofans to operate at warmer temperatures have shown faults, forcing airline customers to send planes for additional maintenance, backup of repair workshops and hundreds of jets awaiting inspection and repair.

Read more: The loss of the reference decade costs airlines to thousands of jets

With the two families of narrow bodies towards the end of their evolutionary calendar, analysts and investors began to wonder what is the next step. China, for its part, is trying to build up on the market with its Comac C919 model which has started to operate in the country, but has not so far been certified to fly in Europe or the United States.

Boeing CEO, Kelly Ortberg, said in July that the company is working internally towards a new generation plane, but waits for engine technology and other factors to be set up, including the restoration of cash flow after years of setbacks.

“It’s not today and probably not tomorrow,” he said during a July 29 call.

The healthier finances of Airbus give it more flexibility to explore the design jumps. CEO Guillaume Faury played with the deployment of a hydrogen plane – potentially with a radical design of “the flying wing” – in the mid -2030s, but has since pushed the effort to focus on a conventional A320 successor.

The company based in Toulouse, in France, plans an open rotor engine which made it possible to make fuel via its architecture rather than the current jet turbines which push the limits of physics to eliminate gains.

Speaking at the Paris Air Show in June, Faury described the A320 as “fairly old platform” and confirmed his intention to launch a successor by the end of this decade, with a service entry in the mid-2030s.

“I focus a lot on the preparation of this new generation of single aisles,” said Faury. “We are very stable and very attached to this.”