2024 has been another busy year for the aviation industry, with numerous important aircraft deliveries fulfilled by the two biggest commercial aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing. Both have faced different challenges this year, and both have frequently revised their production and delivery targets. That said, many airlines welcomed new aircraft types to their fleets in 2024. Let’s take a look at the most significant of those we saw this year.
Airbus deliveries
January – Transavia’s first Airbus A320neo
Airbus kicked off the year by delivering an Airbus A320neo to Transavia France (TO/TVF). The aircraft, registered F-GNEO, was delivered from Toulouse Blagnac Airport (TLS) to Paris Orly Airport (ORY) on January 10. This delivery came hot off the heels of delivering the carrier’s first A321neo in December 2023. F-GNEO made its first in service flight to Porto (OPO) on January 15.
April – Condor’s first Airbus A320neo
Condor (DE/CFG) This delivery of their first A320neo, registration D-ANCZ on April 24. The aircraft was delivered from Toulouse to Frankfurt Airport (FRA). The aircraft wears the red variant of the bold (and often divisive) Condor livery and made its debut passenger flight from Frankfurt to Heraklion (HER) on May 10. The airline is due to take another A320neo, D-ANCY in late 2024.
July – Croatia Airlines’ first Airbus A220
Croatia Airlines (OU/CTN) received the first of six Airbus A220-300 aircraft in July 2024. The aircraft, registered 9A-CAE, operated a delivery flight of over 3,700 nautical miles from Montreal (YMX) to Zagreb (ZAG) via Copenhagen (CPH) across July 29-30. It went into service with the airline on August 02. Croatia Airlines plans on becoming an all-A220 operator in the near future.
August – KLM’s first A321neo
KLM (KL/KLM) took delivery of its eagerly awaited Airbus A321neo on August 27. PH-AXA left Hamburg (XFW) for Amsterdam (AMS) at 14:00 UTC on a 53 minute flight to its new base in the Netherlands’ capital. The aircraft went on to make its first passenger flight from Amsterdam to Aarhus (AAR) on September 5. KLM is one of the major carriers that has pledged a major fleet switch from the 737NG family to the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft. A similar choice was made by Qantas (QF/QFA) in 2023. At the time of writing, Qantas’ first A321XLR is in the late stages of production, with delivery expected in April 2025.
October – Iberia gets the first A321XLR
We’ve closely followed the A321XLR’s journey to the skies, even getting a sneak peak of the aircraft during a test flight back in 2023. The aircraft delivered to Iberia, EC-OIL, was originally set to debut with Aer Lingus (EI/EIN), but was reassigned to Iberia (IB/IBE) following an unfortunately timed strike at the Irish carrier. The aircraft’s delivery flight took place on October 30 in the form of a 2 hour 23 minute flight from Hamburg XFW to Madrid (MAD). The aircraft initially entered passenger service on short haul routes to destinations including Paris (CDG) and Stockholm (ARN), and went on to make its inaugural long-haul flight from Madrid to Boston (BOS) on November 14. It’s important to note that this 2,693 nautical mile journey is well below the maximum advertised range of the XLR; 4,700 nautical miles.
November – Emirates gets its first A350
Emirates’ (EK/UAE) eagerly awaited first Airbus A350-900, A6-EXA (MSN684), was delivered to Dubai (DXB) from Toulouse on November 25. This marked the first new aircraft type to join the Emirates fleet since 2008. The route taken on the aircraft’s delivery flight was slightly unorthodox, with the aircraft first flying north and entering UK airspace before turning south east and heading to Dubai. Thanks to some help from our wonderful podcast listeners, we were able to get to the bottom of the legal reasons that caused this topsy turvy routing, and all is explained in episode 297 of AvTalk.
The airline has a total of 65 A350 aircraft on order. Emirates have introduced several new cabin features for the aircraft, including a 6-way headrest in economy, an increase to 28 premium economy seats and various tweaks to the business class and IFE products. The aircraft is yet to enter passenger service at the time of writing.
November – Malaysia Airlines’ first A330neo
Malaysia Airlines (MH-MAS) took delivery of the first of 20 planned Airbus A330-900neo aircraft on November 28. 9M-MNG left Toulouse for Kuala Lumpur (KUL) on a delivery flight lasting 13 hours and covering 5,741 nautical miles. This was a delayed delivery that had originally been planned for Q3 of 2024. Of the 20 Airbus A330s Avolon is set to deliver to Malaysia Airlines, ten will come from the lessor’s existing backlog, while the remaining aircraft will be sourced from MAG’s order book and subsequently sold to Avolon through sale-and-leaseback (SLB) agreements.
December – Icelandair’s first A321LR
Icelandair (FI-ICE) kicked off their fleet renewal in earnest in December with the delivery of the airline’s first Airbus A321LR. The carrier intends to replace their ageing Boeing 757 fleet with the A321XLR, but due to the first of their XLR aircraft likely not being ready until 2029, Icelandair is leasing 4 new A321LR aircraft from SMBC Aviation Capital. Delivered on December 03, TF-IAA is the first of those aircraft. It is also the first Airbus aircraft ever operated by Icelandair. The aircraft was delivered to its new home in Reykjavik (KEF) on December 3.
December – Aer Lingus receives its first A321XLR
The second A321XLR, registered EI-XLR, was delivered to the Irish carrier on December 18, 2024. The aircraft left Hamburg (XFW) for Dublin (DUB) on a delivery flight lasting 1 hour and 59 minutes. This was the second production XLR aircraft, following the delivery of EC-OIL to Iberia in October 2024. The aircraft is expected to be deployed on new routes to Nashville and Indianapolis in 2025.
Boeing deliveries
February – Hawaiian Airlines’ first Boeing 787-9
Hawaiian Airlines (HA/HAL) took delivery of their first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on February 14. The aircraft, registered N781HA and named ‘Kapuahi’, went on to operate its first passenger flight from Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on April 16. This aircraft debuts the airline’s ‘Leihōkū’ cabin (meaning ‘lei of stars’) which, according to the airline, features “lie-flat seating, an 18-inch in-flight entertainment screen, personal power outlets, wireless cell phone charging and direct aisle access.”
July – Korean Air gets their first (really long) Dreamliner
Korean Air (KE/KAL) received its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner on July 19. HL8515 went on to enter passenger service on July 25, operating flight KE703 from Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN) to Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT). HL8515 has since been followed by an additional 3 787-10 aircraft, alongside an existing fleet of 14 787-9 and one 787-8 jets.
September – Allegiant (finally) gets a 737 MAX
Whilst we have seen some notable defections from Boeing to Airbus in recent years, it’s important to highlight some examples of the opposite. One such example is Allegiant Air (G4/AAY), who placed an order for 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft way back in January 2022. Suffice it to say, the fulfillment of those orders has faced considerable delays. Three aircraft have been delivered as of December 2024. The first MAX to join the airline was N811NV, which was delivered on September 9 and entered service on October 20 flying from Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP). The aircraft ordered are the high density 737 MAX 8200 variant, making the carrier the first in the United States to operate the type.
Whilst it has undoubtedly been another bumper year for commercial aircraft deliveries at Airbus and Boeing, it is fair to say that both OEMs have been affected by an array of ongoing issues, from problems in the supply chain of parts to safety issues with the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine. That said, Boeing’s factory output has been significantly affected by ongoing industrial action throughout 2024, adding an extra dimension to the challenges faced by the US manufacturer. Do you think Airbus and Boeing will hit their delivery targets for 2025? Let us know in the comments.
![An example full flight summary response from the Flightradar24 API: { "data": [ { "fr24_id": "0987654321", "flight": "SK1415", "callsign": "SAS1415", "operated_as": "SAS", "painted_as": "SAS", "type": "A20N", "reg": "SE-DOY", "orig_icao": "ESSA", "orig_iata": "ARN", "datetime_takeoff": "2023-01-27T05:15:22", "runway_takeoff": "12R", "dest_icao": "EKCH", "dest_iata": "CPH", "dest_icao_actual": "EPWA", "dest_iata_actual": "WAW", "datetime_landed": "2023-01-27T06:15:10", "runway_landed": "27L", "flight_time": 3600, "actual_distance": 1007.74, "circle_distance": 6245, "category": "Passenger", "hex": "4A91F9", "first_seen": "2023-01-27T05:06:22", "last_seen": "2023-01-27T06:18:10", "flight_ended": "true" } ] }](https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Flight-summary-API-cover-300x148.jpg)
![An example full flight summary response from the Flightradar24 API: { "data": [ { "fr24_id": "0987654321", "flight": "SK1415", "callsign": "SAS1415", "operated_as": "SAS", "painted_as": "SAS", "type": "A20N", "reg": "SE-DOY", "orig_icao": "ESSA", "orig_iata": "ARN", "datetime_takeoff": "2023-01-27T05:15:22", "runway_takeoff": "12R", "dest_icao": "EKCH", "dest_iata": "CPH", "dest_icao_actual": "EPWA", "dest_iata_actual": "WAW", "datetime_landed": "2023-01-27T06:15:10", "runway_landed": "27L", "flight_time": 3600, "actual_distance": 1007.74, "circle_distance": 6245, "category": "Passenger", "hex": "4A91F9", "first_seen": "2023-01-27T05:06:22", "last_seen": "2023-01-27T06:18:10", "flight_ended": "true" } ] }](https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Flight-summary-API-cover-768x378.jpg)
