Airbus jet deliveries slip in first quarter

Airbus delivered fewer commercial jets in the first quarter than it did a year ago.

It also delivered fewer jets than rival Boeing Co. in the first quarter of 2016.

The European planemaker said it delivered 125 jets in the three-month period ended March 31. That compares with 134 jets in the same period in 2015.

Its total deliveries were also lower than Boeing’s, which last week reported first quarter 2016 deliveries of 176 jets.

But in the race for narrowbody jet supremacy, Airbus surpassed Boeing, delivering 47 A320 Family jets in the first quarter compared with Boeing’s 30 737 deliveries.

Airbus operates an engineering center in Old Town and is also a customer of Wichita’s Spirit AeroSystems, which builds parts of the A320, A350XWB and A380. Spirit also builds major parts of all Boeing airplanes, including 70 percent of the 737.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Airbus jet deliveries slip in first quarter."