Will 2009 be a record year for aircraft deliveries? Airbus and Boeing slug it out

Between them, Airbus and Boeing have delivered 500 aircraft over the first six months of 2009, an avalanche of capacity that is exacerbating yield pressures as demand weakens amid the global economic crisis. While the pace of new orders has slowed almost to a crawl this year (Airbus netted 68 firm orders in 1H2009, Boeing had just one), deliveries by the two major manufacturers look close to equaling or bettering the all-time record, set in 1999, of 914 aircraft.