Airbus vs Boeing: see which company is bigger by revenue, workforce, deliveries, order backlog and defence business using comparable 2024 figures.
There is no single permanent winner. Airbus is bigger in the large commercial-aircraft market, with more deliveries and a larger order backlog, while Boeing had more employees and the larger reported defence-and-space segment on 2024 figures. Airbus also recorded the higher 2024 revenue after converting euros to US dollars.
For Aviation & Real-World Flying, the most useful answer is Airbus if “bigger” means the airliner business passengers and simmers encounter. A whole-company comparison is mixed because both are diversified groups. Our overview of how the major aircraft manufacturers divide the market puts their commercial-aircraft dominance in context.
Airbus vs Boeing size comparison
The 2024 full-year reports provide a clear, fixed comparison across several measures rather than relying on a single ambiguous definition of size.
| 2024 measure | Airbus | Boeing | Larger company by that measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company revenue | €69.2 billion, roughly US$75 billion after conversion | US$66.5 billion | Airbus |
| Year-end workforce | About 157,000 | About 172,000 | Boeing |
| Commercial aircraft delivered | 766 | 348 | Airbus |
| Commercial aircraft backlog | 8,658 | More than 5,500 | Airbus |
| Reported defence-and-space segment revenue | €12.1 billion | US$23.9 billion | Boeing |
These figures are rounded for readability. Airbus reports under IFRS in euros, while Boeing reports under US GAAP in dollars. Currency conversion makes Airbus the revenue leader for that period, but it does not remove differences in accounting policies, segment boundaries or product mix.
Is Airbus bigger than Boeing in commercial aviation?
Yes, Airbus was decisively bigger by commercial deliveries and order backlog in 2024.
That delivery gap should not be mistaken for permanent maximum production capacity. Boeing’s output was constrained by production controls and a prolonged labour strike, while Airbus also faced supplier bottlenecks. Deliveries show what reached customers during the year, not what either manufacturer could build under ideal conditions.
Aircraft counts have another limitation: one narrow-body and one wide-body each count as a single delivery, despite their very different prices and manufacturing demands. Backlog is not guaranteed revenue either. Orders can be deferred or cancelled, and the two manufacturers do not apply identical accounting tests when presenting their order books.
Does Boeing’s defence business make it bigger overall?
No—Boeing’s larger reported defence-and-space segment makes it bigger on that measure, not automatically across the whole company.
Airbus includes commercial aircraft, helicopters, defence and space operations; our guide to Airbus’s range across airliners, helicopters and military products shows why it should not be treated as an airliner-only company. Boeing combines commercial aircraft, defence and space, global services and financing, with a particularly substantial military aircraft portfolio.
The defence comparison is not perfectly like-for-like. Some Airbus military work sits within its helicopter operation, while Boeing’s services division supports military customers as well as airlines. Comparing only the two named defence segments is useful, but it does not capture every defence-related pound or dollar.
Why can market value give a different answer?
Market capitalisation measures investor valuation, not factories, employees, aircraft output or revenue.
It changes with each company’s share price and with the euro–dollar exchange rate. Enterprise value also accounts for cash and debt, but remains date-sensitive. Any claim that Airbus or Boeing is bigger by stock-market value needs a specific trading date and common currency; otherwise, it can become wrong quickly.
What is the short verdict?
The correct choice depends on what “bigger” is intended to measure:
- Commercial aircraft deliveries and backlog: Airbus.
- Whole-group revenue: Airbus on the comparable 2024 figures after currency conversion.
- Workforce: Boeing at the end of 2024.
- Reported core defence-and-space segment: Boeing in 2024, with segment-scope caveats.
- Stock-market value: no timeless winner; it must be measured on the same date and in the same currency.
If no metric is specified, we would answer that Airbus is the bigger commercial-aircraft manufacturer, but Boeing is bigger on some wider corporate measures.