Airbus' 127 Aircraft Deliveries In December Is Another Record
Airbus delivered 127 aircraft in December 2017, setting yet another record for the most commercial jet aircraft delivered by a manufacturer in a single month. The previous record of 111 was set in December 2016, also by Airbus.
While production rates of narrowbody aircraft are increasing, which accounts for the majority of deliveries today, these delivery records have more to do with the typical end-of-the-year rush to deliver as many aircraft as possible rather than a "new normal". The top five months with delivery records were all in December and all saw a significant drop the following January as shown in the chart below.
| RANK | MANUFACTURER | MONTH | NO. OF DELIVERIES | NO. OF DELIVERIES THE FOLLOWING MONTH | PERCENT CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Airbus | December 2017 | 127 | 27 | -79% |
| 2 | Airbus | December 2016 | 111 | 25 | -77% |
| 3 | Boeing | December 2017 | 83 | 44 | -47% |
| 4 | Boeing | December 1998 | 82 | 40 | -51% |
| 5 | Airbus | December 2015 | 79 | 22 | -72% |
| 6 | Boeing | September 2015 | 78 | 58 | -26% |
| 7 | Boeing | December 2014 | 77 | 50 | -35% |
| Boeing | September 2017 | 77 | 56 | -27% | |
| 8 | Airbus | December 2014 | 75 | 36 | -52% |
| Boeing | June 2017 | 75 | 58 | -23% | |
| 9 | Boeing | June 2016 | 74 | 57 | -23% |
| Boeing | March 2017 | 74 | 52 | -30% | |
| Airbus | November 2017 | 74 | 127 | +72% | |
| 10 | Boeing | March 2016 | 73 | 54 | -26% |
| Boeing | May 2016 | 73 | 74 | +1% |
Stepping back a bit to put today's aircraft production rates in perspective, the table below shows the monthly delivery record for selected other commercial jet airliner manufacturers, past and present.
| MANUFACTURER | MONTH | NO. OF DELIVERIES | AIRCRAFT TYPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier | January 2003 | 39 | CRJ |
| McDonnell Douglas | December 1967 | 31 | DC-8, DC-9 |
| Embraer | December 2008 | 28 | ERJ |
| Fokker | December 1991 | 13 | Fokker 100 |
| British Aerospace | December 1989 | 10 | BAe 146 |
| British Aircraft Corp. | March 1970 | 10 | BAC 1-11 |
| Convair | January 1961 | 8 | CV-880 |
| Lockheed | December 1973 | 7 |
L-1011 |
| Sukhoi | February 2017 | 7 | Superjet |
| Sud-Aviation | February 1962 | 6 | Caravelle |
| Fairchild-Dornier | March 2001 | 6 | 328JET |
| De Havilland | April 1962 | 5 |
Comet |
Source: Aviation Week Intelligence Network's Fleet Discovery
A China Southern A330 awaits delivery at Airbus' factory in Toulouse. Photo credit: Nigel Howarth