The competition between Airbus and Boeing has been characterized as a duopoly in the large jet airliner market since the 1990s.Airlines Industry Profile: United States, Datamonitor, November 2008, pp. 13–14
The duopoly resulted from a series of mergers within the global aerospace industry, with Airbus beginning as a pan-European consortium while the American Boeing absorbed its former arch-rival, McDonnell Douglas, in 1997. Other manufacturers, such as Lockheed Martin and Convair in the United States, and Fokker in Europe, were no longer able to compete and effectively withdrew from this market. British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) joined the consortium in 1979.
In the 10 years from 2015 to 2024, Airbus received orders for 8,950 aircraft and delivered 7,043, while Boeing received net orders for 5,012 aircraft and delivered 5,312. During their period of intense competition, both companies regularly accused each other of receiving unfair state aid from their respective governments.
In 2019, Airbus displaced Boeing as the largest aerospace company by revenue.
In October 2019, the A320 family became the highest-selling airliner family with 15,193 orders, surpassing the Boeing 737's total of 15,136.
In 2023, the number of Airbus aircraft in service surpassed Boeing for the first time.
Even in the 21st century there have been attempts to challenge the duopoly. The attempt by Bombardier ended with its C-Series being acquired by Airbus and renamed the Airbus A220. Both Russia and China produce some jet airliners, mostly for the domestic market, with the Sukhoi Superjet achieving a low number of international orders prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Comac has a product similar to the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 family with the Comac C919 which has 1,005 total orders (compared to 11,179 for the A320neo family and 6,779 for the Boeing 737 MAX) on the order book, mostly from Chinese airlines.
Competing products
Passenger capacity and range comparison Airbus and Boeing have wide product ranges, including single-aisle and wide-body aircraft, covering a variety of combinations of capacity and range.
+ Single-aisle craft: Airbus, 737 Type Length Span Range List price Airbus A220-100 35.0 m 35.1 m 63.7 t 100–120 US$79.5M Airbus A220-300 38.7 m 35.1 m 70.9 t 120–150 US$89.5M Airbus A319neo 33.84 m 35.8 m 75.5 t 120–150 US$101.5M Boeing 737-7 35.56 m 35.9 m 80.3 t 135–160 US$96.0M Airbus A320neo 37.57 m 35.8 m 79.0 t 150–180 US$110.6M Boeing 737-8 39.52 m 35.9 m 82.6 t 160–180 US$117.1M Boeing 737-9 42.16 m 35.9 m 88.3 t 175–195 US$120.2M Boeing 737-10 43.8 m 35.9 m 89.8 t 185–210 US$129.9M Airbus A321neo 44.51 m 35.8 m 97.0 t 180–220 US$129.5M Airbus A321XLR 44.51 m 35.8 m 101.0 t 206–220 unknown Table definitions: MTOW: Maximum Takeoff Weight pax: Passenger capacity
+ Widebodies : Airbus, 787, 777X, 747 Type length span MTOW pax range list price Boeing 787-8 56.7 m 60.1 m 227.9 t 200-275 US$239.0M Airbus A330neo-800 58.36 m 64.0 m 251.0 t 257-271 US$259.9M Airbus A330neo-900 63.69 m 64.0 m 253.0 t 287-303 US$296.4M Boeing 787-9 62.8 m 60.1 m 259.2 t 250-325 US$281.6M Airbus A350-900 66.8 m 64.75 m 283.0 t 332-352 US$317.4M Airbus A350-900 ULR 66.8 m 64.75 m 280.0 t 300-350 unknown Boeing 787-10 68.3 m 60.1 m 260.4 t 300-375 US$325.8M Boeing 777X-8 70.86 m 71.75 m 365.1 t 350-425 US$394.9M Airbus A350-1000 73.78 m 64.75 m 324.0 t 375-400 US$366.5M Boeing 777X-9 76.72 m 71.75 m 351.5 t 375-450 US$425.8M Boeing 747-8 76.3 m 68.4 m 447.7 t 410 US$402.9M Airbus A380 72.7 m 79.8 m 575.0 t 575 US$445.6M
Cargo capacity and range comparison Type length span MTOW capacity range list price (USD) A320P2F 37.6 m 35.8 m 78.0 t 21.4 t converted 737-800BCF 39.5 m 79.0 t 22.7 t converted A321P2F 44.51 m 93.5 t 28.1 t converted 767-300F 54.94 m 47.57 m 186.9 t 52.4 t $203.7M 767-300BCF 50.9 m 51.6 t converted A330-200P2F 58.82 m 60.3 m 233.0 t 59.0 t converted A330-200F 187.0 t 61.0 t $237.0M A330-300P2F 63.66 m 233.0 t 62.0 t converted 777F 63.7 m 64.8 m 347.8 t 102.0 t $325.7M A350F 70.8 m 64.75 m 319.0 t 111.0 t $451.7M 747-8F 76.3 m 68.4 m 447.7 t 137.7 t $387.5M
Small single aisles
In October 2017, Airbus took a 50.01% stake in the Bombardier CSeries programme. Airbus took control of the CSeries on 1 July 2018 and renamed it Airbus A220.
Single aisles: A320 vs 737
Airbus sold the A320 family aircraft well to low-cost startups, and the choice of engines was offered to make it more attractive to airlines and lessors than the single-sourced Boeing 737 family. While the 737NG series outsold the A320ceo family since its introduction in 1988, in 2001, and in 2007, the latter became the best-selling jet airliner in 2002, and in 2005–2006.
By July 2021, Airbus (including the A220) had a 65% share of the single-aisle backlog compared to Boeing's 35% share.
By September 2018, there were 7,251 A320ceo family aircraft in service versus 6,757 737NGs, while at year end there were 7,506 A320 family versus 7,310 Boeing 737 overall.
In October 2025, following Boeing's crisis caused by accidents in years 2018 and 2019, Airbus A320 family overtook Boeing 737 as the most-delivered jetliner with 12,260 deliveries in total at the time.
Twin aisles The ultra-long-range variants of new types enable new routes between far-away city pairs: the Airbus A350-900 ULR entered service in 2018 and the Boeing 777-8 was initially expected in 2022 but was not in service as of July 2026.
Jumbo twin aisles: A380 vs 747
During the 1990s, both companies researched the feasibility of a passenger aircraft larger than the Boeing 747, then the largest airliner in operation. Airbus launched a full-length double-deck aircraft, the A380, a decade later while Boeing decided the project would not be commercially viable and developed the third-generation Boeing 747-8 instead. The Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 were thus in direct competition on long-haul routes.
Rival performance claims by Airbus and Boeing appeared contradictory, their methodologies unclear, and neither validated by a third-party source. An independent analysis showed fuel consumption per seat of 3.27 L/100 km for the A380 and 3.35 L/100 km for the B747-8I; a hypothetical re-engined A380neo would have achieved 2.82 to 2.65 L/100 km per seat, depending on the options selected.
Modes of competition Outsourcing Because many of the world's airlines are wholly or partially government-owned, aircraft procurement decisions are often taken according to political criteria in addition to commercial ones. Boeing and Airbus seek to exploit this by subcontracting the production of aircraft components or assemblies to manufacturers in countries of strategic importance in order to gain a competitive advantage overall.
For example, Boeing has maintained longstanding relationships since 1974 with Japanese suppliers including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries by which these companies have had increasing involvement on successive Boeing jet programs, a process which has helped Boeing achieve almost total dominance of the Japanese market for commercial jets. Outsourcing was extended on the 787 to the extent that Boeing's own involvement was reduced to little more than project management, design, assembly, and test operation, outsourcing most of the actual manufacturing all around the world. Boeing has since stated that it "outsourced too much" and that future airplane projects will depend far more on its own engineering and production personnel.
Partly because of its origins as a consortium of European companies, Airbus has had fewer opportunities to outsource significant parts of its production beyond its own European plants. However, in 2009 Airbus opened an assembly plant in Tianjin, China for production of its A320 series airliners, and opened a similar assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama, United States in 2015.
Technology Airbus sought to compete with the well-established Boeing in the 1970s through its introduction of advanced technology. For example, the A300 made the most extensive use of composite materials yet seen in an aircraft of that era, and by automating the flight engineer's functions, was the first widebody jet to have a two-person flight crew. In the 1980s Airbus was the first to introduce digital fly-by-wire controls into an airliner (the A320).
With Airbus now an established competitor to Boeing, both companies use advanced technology to seek performance advantages in their products. Many of these improvements are about weight reduction and fuel efficiency. For example, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the first large airliner to use 50% composites for its construction. The Airbus A350 XWB features 53% composites.
Engine choices
The competitive strength in the market of any airliner is considerably influenced by the choice of engine available. In general, airlines prefer to have a choice of at least two engines from the major manufacturers General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. However, engine manufacturers prefer to be a single source and often succeed in striking commercial deals with Boeing and Airbus to achieve this.
In 2008, the competition was developing between two sides as Airbus selected the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB alone for the Airbus A350, while GE avoided a $1 billion development competing with its Boeing 777HGW exclusive GE90. In 2013, Boeing rejected a Rolls-Royce engine for the 777X to favor General Electric's GE9X. In 2014, Rolls-Royce secured its exclusivity to power the A330neo with the Trent 7000.
Other aircraft providing a single engine-type offering include the Boeing 737 MAX (CFM LEAP) or the Airbus A220 (P&W GTF); while those with multiple sources include the Boeing 787 (GEnx/Trent 1000) or the Airbus A320neo (P&W GTF/CFM LEAP).
Currency and exchange rates Boeing's production costs are mostly in United States dollars, whereas Airbus's production costs are mostly in euro. When the dollar appreciates against the euro the cost of producing a Boeing aircraft rises relatively to the cost of producing an Airbus aircraft, and conversely when the dollar falls relative to the euro it is an advantage for Boeing. There are also possible currency risks and benefits involved in the way aircraft are sold. Boeing typically prices its aircraft only in dollars, while Airbus, although pricing most aircraft sales in dollars, has been known to be more flexible and has priced some aircraft sales in Asia and the Middle East in multiple currencies. Depending on currency fluctuations between the acceptance of the order and the delivery of the aircraft this can result in an extra profit or extra expense—or, if Airbus has purchased insurance against such fluctuations, an additional cost regardless.
Safety and quality Most aircraft dominating the companies' current sales, the Boeing 737-NG and Airbus A320 families and both companies' wide-body offerings, have good safety records. Older model aircraft such as the Boeing 707, Boeing 727, Boeing 737-100/-200, Boeing 747-100/SP/200/300, Airbus A300, and Airbus A310, which were first flown during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, have had higher rates of fatal accidents. Both companies tend to avoid safety comparisons when selling their aircraft to airlines or comparisons on product quality. According to Airbus's John Leahy in 2013, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery problems would not cause customers to switch airplane suppliers. The grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX following two high-profile crashes is also unlikely to significantly benefit Airbus at least short-term, as both the 737 MAX and A320neo production lines have backlogs of several years and changing manufacturers requires significant crew training.
Production planning
Former Airbus executive John Leahy indicated that Airbus has overbooked orders in its backlog, just as Boeing does, and uses internal algorithms to anticipate defections in order to maintain steady production.