A LOOK AT JUST THE DECEMBER delivery numbers for Airbus and Boeing might seem to suggest that supply chain, quality and labor problems are not so bad after all. Boeing handed over 53 737 MAXs last month, while Airbus exceeded even its 2025 target of reaching a monthly production rate of 75 A320neo-fam-ily aircraft by delivering 76 units. But the reality is very different. The decades-old pattern of aircraft deliveries shows that December is almost always the peak month as manufacturers scramble to meet or exceed production targets promised to investors several months earlier. In 2022, the OEMs were aiming to come as close as possible to those targets rather than to meet them. To be precise, Boeing actually exceeded its latest 737 target of 375 aircraft-but the company's guidance at the beginning of 2022 was 500 deliveries. Airbus fell short of its overall delivery goal of around 700 aircraft (revised downward once from 720) and handed over 661 aircraft. That shortfall was un- usual for Airbus, which typically has gone to extremes in December to get to the finish line.
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