Airbus A320 Poised to Overtake Boeing 737 as Most-Delivered Commercial Airliner

Summary

The Airbus A320 narrowbody series is on the verge of surpassing Boeing’s best-selling 737 family to become the most-delivered commercial airliner in the world, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, first reported by Bloomberg. Launched as a direct challenger to Boeing’s long-dominant 737, the A320 program has taken nearly four decades to reach this milestone. Now, the European aircraft manufacturer has finally caught up to its US rival. A Closer Look Into The Numbers Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock As of early August 2025, Airbus had narrowed the gap to just 20 aircraft, with lifetime deliveries of 12,155 Airbus A320-family jets, according to Cirium data. At the current pace, that difference is expected to disappear as soon as September 2025. In a LinkedIn post, Max Kingsley-Jones, head of advisory at Cirium Ascend Consultancy, noted that Boeing had delivered 12,175 Boeing 737s since the first -100 entered service with Lufthansa in December 1967. Airbus, meanwhile, handed over its first A320-100 to Air France in March 1988 and has since delivered 12,155 narrowbody aircraft. Kinglsey-Jones added: “But did anyone back then expect it could become number one – and on such high production volumes? I certainly didn’t, and nor probably did Airbus Industrie…” A320 and 737 Dominate The World’s Commercial Passenger Fleet Photo: Jake Hardiman | Simple Flying Together, the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families account for nearly half of all passenger commercial narrowbody jets flying today. By 1988, when Airbus launched its new A320 narrowbody jet, Boeing had already established a strong lead, having delivered around 1,500 of its popular jets. But Airbus gained an edge by being the first to upgrade its Airbus A320 with new-generation engines, creating the fuel-efficient “neo” variant that quickly became a favored choice among airlines. Facing growing pressure to compete, Boeing introduced the 737 MAX series, which attempted to fit larger, more powerful e...