Airbus nears record long held by Boeing

The year Airbus SE announced it would build a single-aisle jetliner to take on Boeing’s 737, the US-made narrow-body already in use for more than a decade, had reshaped the airline industry by making routes cheaper and more profitable to operate.

- BLOOMBERG

1. The year Airbus SE announced it would build a single-aisle jetliner to take on Boeing’s 737, the US-made narrow-body already in use for more than a decade, had reshaped the airline industry by making routes cheaper and more profitable to operate. By the time Airbus began producing its upstart A320, Boeing had built a formidable lead by selling some 1,500 of its top-selling bestseller.

Taken the better part of two decades, but Airbus has caught up: The A320 is poised to overtake its competitor as the most-delivered commercial airliner in history, according to aviation consultancy Cirium. As of August, Airbus had narrowed the gap to just 20 units, with 12,155 lifetime A320-family shipments, according to the data. That difference is likely to disappear as soon as next month.