Following the Future Aviation Forum that took place in Riyadh in May 2024, Saudi Arabia-based Saudia announced an order of 12 A320neo and 93 A321neo aircrafts that it has placed with Airbus. This forms part of the company’s strategy to promote Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination. The national carrier has chosen Airbus for this deal due to delays on an existing Boeing order, while its co-flag carrier, Riyadh Air, is also still awaiting delivery of aircrafts ordered in 2023.

Boeing deliveries have been in further decline since an incident in January 2024 sparked a probe into the company’s safety protocols by the FAA. Following the safety probe, Boeing was given 90 days to respond to systemic safety issues within the company and present solutions on how it will address safety systems and quality control processes going forward. Now, a Reuters source has reported that Chinese authorities are causing further delays to Boeing’s delivery schedules in China, where regulatory reviews of a cockpit voice recorder battery system is underway. This follows the recently lifted freeze on the Boeing 737 model deliveries in China that has been in place since 2019.

Amid this delivery shortage, the commercial travel industry is rapidly recovering to pre-pandemic levels, and with it, the need for new aircraft deliveries. Over the next decade, new commercial aircraft deliveries are set to increase to roughly 2,500 per year by 2034. To meet this growth, Airbus has gone on a recruiting spree to prepare for capacity expansion and aims to deliver up to 850 aircrafts by 2026. In contrast, Boeing deliveries continue to lag as the company navigates the more stringent FAA certification process for its 737 Max 7 and 10 models along with the repercussions of its ongoing production safety crisis.

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