Airbus Shows European Cooperation Can Defeat U.S. Incumbents

Over decades, the leading aircraft manufacturer has gone from a loose consortium to a genuinely pan-European industrial giant. It has now surpassed the U.S. incumbents it was built to compete with.

An Airbus A380 in 2014. Photo by Joao Carlos Medau. Source.

Airbus is the largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes and helicopters in the world. Since 2019, it has surpassed its main rival, the U.S. corporation Boeing, in both revenues and orders—as of 2024, Boeing is the only other company in the world that builds the largest types of commercial airplanes, wide-body “jumbo jets” that can accommodate hundreds of passengers for long-haul flights of over 10,000 km. As of 2022, over 80% of Airbus’ €59 billion in revenue came from commercial aircraft production.¹ Airbus is also the largest partner in the Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role fighter jet program and in ArianeGroup, the main European space rocket launch company. Airbus has 135,000 employees, 90% of whom are located in Europe. Registered in the Netherlands, but with the bulk of its workforce, shareholders, and main facilities split between France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Airbus is a rare case study in successful, genuinely multinational European coordination in heavy industry and high technology, which has moreover surpassed a U.S. incumbent and rival to become the global leader.