The key race: Airbus is still on its September page, and Boeing has printed 475 for the year
Winning in large commercial aircraft still means handing over the backlog. Airbus's orders-and-deliveries page, checked 19 October 2026, still shows September as the latest official month: 72 deliveries to 37 customers, 17 gross orders, and 547 deliveries year to date to 84 customers. The newest workbook linked there is the September file. Boeing's own 13 October release is the new official print: 161 commercial deliveries in the third quarter and 475 year to date, made up of 124 and 367 737s, 10 and 26 767s, 5 and 20 777s, and 22 and 62 787s. Boeing said those figures are not final until quarterly results are issued.
Reuters the same day separated September from that quarter: 57 jets, up from 51 in August and 55 a year earlier, including 43 737 MAX, eight 787s, two 777 freighters and four 767s, three of them going to Boeing's defense unit for completion as KC-46 tankers. Reuters said September orders were 165, lifted by Turkish Airlines' 100 737 MAX jets, and that the official backlog was 6,371 versus 6,156 at the end of August. None of the 200 jets China committed to in May were in that order count. On deliveries, Airbus's 547 still leads Boeing's 475. Boeing's own table counts 367 737-program aircraft year to date; Reuters's 363 figure is 737 MAX deliveries only.
Who's ahead: ACG firmed 75 single-aisles, and Avolon's package is a 27 October vote
Airbus's orders page now lists a 16 October release: Aviation Capital Group signed a firm order for 75 A320neo Family aircraft. The page gives no delivery year. The 9 October Avolon release and the 7 October Biman release are still the items beside it. There is no later Airbus release on that list saying Avolon's shareholder condition has been cleared.
Bohai Leasing's 9 October meeting notice sets the first extraordinary shareholders' meeting for 27 October 2026 at 14:30, with online voting the same day and a record date of 22 October. The Airbus purchase and the Boeing purchase are both special resolutions. Each needs at least two-thirds of the voting rights of shareholders who attend. The notice does not report a result.
What decides it: an October Airbus month that is not up yet, and a 737-10 certificate that is still unsigned
No October Airbus workbook has replaced the September page, so the fourth-quarter delivery gap described on 11 October was not reset by a new official month. This run did not reopen that September spreadsheet. Family splits inside the 72 stay as published then. Boeing's quarterly table is by program, and the company said it is not final until results.
On the 737-10, The Air Current reported that Boeing and the FAA held a type-certification board meeting on the morning of 16 October. It was told the meeting was successful, and that ceremonial signatures could follow as early as the next week after Boeing delivers a project statement of completion. A Boeing spokesman referred questions to the FAA. An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment on timelines and said they will be dictated by safety. That dispatch is not a type certificate, and Boeing's 13 October delivery release does not contain one.
The money and the rules: the lessor vote is still open, and the other queues are other races
Avolon's 9 October package stays a shareholder meeting until 27 October. It is not, on the documents opened here, a booked addition to either OEM's published backlog. Biman's 10-aircraft Airbus order remains the firm item already on the company record; this run did not reopen slots or a price. Catalog ceilings and delivery windows in the separate Bohai purchase notices are left to company refresh.
Airbus defense updates since 11 October, the Joby, Archer and Eve queue items, and non-members bundled in the same events do not change the 2026 commercial delivery comparison. They stay on the defense, eVTOL and other company records.
What to watch through early 2027
At Airbus, watch for an October delivery bulletin, for delivery years on the 75 ACG aircraft, and for whether the 27 October Bohai vote is followed by an orders-table entry. At Boeing, watch whether the FAA signs a 737-10 type certificate after the 16 October board meeting, whether the 475 year-to-date figure moves when results make the table final, and whether the 165 September orders show up in a later workbook. Reuters's account includes unidentified customers inside that 165; this run did not open a Boeing orders file that names them.
A321 rework, the Spain labor text, the A350F campaign, the 777-9 window, and a COMAC delivery bulletin were not re-opened as new official prints. The through-line is unchanged: factories and certificates, not a new airframe, decide how much of this year's backlog flies.
