Airbus Enters Earnings Week with a Wider Lead over Boeing, Yet Headwinds Remain Unresolved

Airbus delivered 351 aircraft in H1, beating Boeing by 37; stock down 12% from peak; order backlog of 9,216 jets supports long-term growth amid production issues.

The diverging fortunes of the world’s two largest planemakers are on full display as Airbus heads into its second-quarter report on July 29. By mid-2026, the European manufacturer had delivered 351 aircraft, stretching its advantage over Boeing to 37 jets—the American company managed just 314. Yet the stock, at €48.40 on Wednesday, still sits 12% below its 52-week high of €55.00 reached in January and has slipped 2.04% since the start of the year.

June alone saw Airbus hand over 89 aircraft, the bulk of them single-aisle models. The narrowbody tally included 73 A320neo-family jets—39 A321neo and 34 A320neo—plus nine A220-300s. On the widebody side, seven A350s left the production line, comprising six A350-900s and one A350-1000. Boeing had already surrendered its lead in late May, and the gap has only widened month by month.

The order book provides a cushion that most manufacturers would envy. Airbus’s active backlog stood at 9,216 aircraft at the end of June, a slight drop of 31 units from the prior month as deliveries outpaced new orders. Net additions for the first half reached around 535 jets, and at the current annual target of 870 deliveries the order book equates to roughly 10.6 years of production. Internally, Reuters reports that Airbus is aiming for more than 900 deliveries in 2026, though the official guidance remains the more conservative 870. To hit that number, the company must hand over another 515 aircraft from July onward—an average of 86.5 per month, a rhythm complicated by the traditionally weak August holiday period.

Production, however, is not without friction. First-quarter adjusted operating profit tumbled 52% to €300 million, hurt by lower deliveries and supply constraints at engine-maker Pratt & Whitney. The targeted monthly production rate of 75 A320-family jets remains elusive. On top of that, a strike involving 3,000 workers in Spain is disrupting the assembly of narrowbodies, the very backbone of Airbus’s portfolio. Customers such as IndiGo have flagged delays with the A321XLR, and a 42% month-on-month jump in urgent maintenance-part searches recorded by the spare-parts platform Locatory points to deepening component shortages across the industry.

Goldman Sachs nevertheless expects a strong second-quarter result, citing easing issues with A320 fuselage panels and the release of around 20 China-bound deliveries that were postponed from the first quarter. Technically, the stock is trading 6.35% above its 50-day moving average of €45.51 and about 1.7% above the 200-day average of €47.20. The relative strength index of 53.8 suggests a neutral market—neither overbought nor oversold.

Investors are balancing the bullish narrative—a fat order book, a widening delivery lead over Boeing, and a growing defence business (Airbus recently joined the Bliksem-EXO consortium to develop a European space interceptor, with first tests planned for 2027)—against concrete risks. Should the company confirm its annual outlook on July 29, the stock could stabilise above €48. But if management acknowledges that material shortages or the Spanish labour dispute are materially crimping A320neo production rates, the 100-day moving average near €44.13 could come into play. A test of that level would likely set the near-term direction.

A separate milestone later this year will also draw attention: the first delivery of an A350-1000 to Lufthansa, expected in the autumn, offering an independent gauge of how the long-haul programme is truly progressing. For now, the market is watching to see whether Airbus can turn its operational lead into a sustained share-price recovery.