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Introduction

Jan. 14, 2015: Customer quality counts as much as the raw number of orders, a top Boeing official said yesterday during a bit of counter-programming on the day Airbus held its annual press conference recapping the previous year's orders and deliveries.

In a tele-press conference, John Wojick, Boeing SVP of Global Sales & Marketing, said, "It’s not just orders, it’s also about the quality. We work very hard to do business that will actually get to deliveries. We have a much stronger history of orders-to-deliveries than our competitor."

Summary

• Wojick has a point: Boeing's customer quality orders historically have been better than Airbus; but
• This is changing. Our Storm Warning Flag assessment shows an improved Airbus customer quality base among the top orders.
• Both companies overbook in anticipation of cancellations and deferrals; Airbus is more aggressive in this practice.
• Airbus had three times the cancellations in 2014 as Boeing.