Airbus woes while Boeing rebounds show how quickly the script can flip

As Boeing Co. lurched from one crisis to the next last year, its European rival quietly went about churning out aircraft, with Airbus SE Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury routinely reminding his staff to remain humble.

Faury was well aware of how quickly the tables can turn in an industry that only knows two main players. And the past week brought an unwelcome reminder that Airbus, too, isn’t immune to the production woes bedevilling aircraft manufacturing, with supply and worker shortages being acute issues years after the pandemic ended.

Early Wednesday (December 3), Airbus was forced to revise its aircraft delivery target for the year, an important metric the company had long maintained was achievable, even as the warning alarms sounded louder. But after discovering that a littl