The world’s two largest aviation manufacturing giants, Boeing in the United States and Airbus in Europe, recently have fallen into their own difficulties, which has aroused widespread attention and concern in the global aviation industry.

Bloomberg reported on October 12, 2024, that Boeing announced on the 11th local time in the United States that it would cut 17,000 jobs, equivalent to a 10% layoff.

In addition, Boeing recently announced that the company’s first 777X wide-body model will be delayed.

In fact, the plan for 777X to apply for the Federal Aviation Administration’s airworthiness certificate has been delayed for 5 years.

In August this year, Boeing announced that it would suspend testing of the model.

As the time for the third quarter report is approaching, Boeing has issued a warning in advance that the company’s third-quarter performance will be significantly lower than Wall Street’s expectations. France’s Le Monde commented on the 12th that Boeing is now at an ‘existential crisis‘.

While Boeing is in a state of panic, Airbus is not immune.

Reuters quoted Christian Scherer, CEO of Airbus’ aircraft manufacturing business, as saying on the 11th that Airbus was ‘disappointed‘ with the delivery of aircraft in September this year and said that the engine supplier CFM constituted a ‘bottleneck’.

It is worth mentioning that the American supplier Spirit, which was previously split from Boeing, supplies both Boeing and Airbus. The Boeing crisis also spilled over to the company and caused a huge impact. Some key structural components of Airbus A350 and A220 models are supplied by Spirit. Scherer publicly stated on the 11th that Spirit’s current production status ‘is not up to the expected level’.

Industry analysts believe that although Boeing is currently facing a serious crisis, it is difficult for Airbus to benefit from it immediately. Because Airbus’ own orders are full, and the factory’s production capacity has reached full capacity. In fact, Airbus just lowered its expectations for aircraft deliveries this year in the first half of the year and slowed down the progress of capacity ramp-up.

In addition, CNBC, citing sources, disclosed an internal memo from Airbus in July this year, saying that Scherer warned of the difficulties currently faced by Boeing, the old rival of the United States, and his own company in the memo, saying that we should be careful of the ‘stable rise’ of China as a competitor, especially China’s large aircraft, which not only has strong support from the government but also has a broad domestic market space.

The rise of China Commercial Aircraft Corporation has brought new competitive pressure to Boeing and Airbus. China’s C919 large passenger aircraft has begun to receive orders in domestic and foreign markets. And the strong support of the Chinese government and the huge domestic market demand have enabled China Commercial Aircraft Corporation to rise rapidly and occupy a place in the global aviation market.

The difficulties of Boeing and Airbus are not only the result of their own operating problems but also reflect the systemic challenges facing the global aviation industry. Under the impact of the global economy, the demand for air travel has dropped sharply, airline orders have plummeted, and supply chain problems have occurred frequently. As industry giants, the performance of Boeing and Airbus directly affects the health of the entire industry.

Industry analysts pointed out that despite the current difficulties, the recovery of the aviation industry is just around the corner. The key lies in how to find opportunities in the crisis, make strategic adjustments, and ultimately achieve rebirth.