By Valerie Insinna

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing on Tuesday announced 130 airplane deliveries over the first quarter of 2023, inching past rival Airbus, which delivered 127 jets.

Boeing’s deliveries were up almost 27% from a year earlier, when it delivered 95 jets.

The U.S. planemaker delivered 64 aircraft in March, 36% more than the 41 jets transferred to customers in the same month last year.

The 737 MAX made up 52 of that sum, with United Airlines and Southwest Airlines each taking ownership of 12 MAX jets.

Widebody deliveries picked up after a slow January and February, in part caused by a weeks-long halt on 787 Dreamliner deliveries ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration in February.

After receiving FAA approval to restart deliveries in mid-March, the company transferred 7 Dreamliners to customers last month.

Other deliveries included one P-8 Poseidon aircraft, one 767 freighter — its first 767 delivery of the year, made after Boeing resolved a fuel tank quality problem — and three 777s.

Airbus handed over 127 jets in its first quarter including 61 deliveries last month, the European planemaker announced on Tuesday.

Quarterly deliveries were down 11% from 142 physical deliveries a year earlier, or down 9% compared with an adjusted year-ago total of 140, Reuters previously reported on April 7.

Boeing and Airbus have been close to level on deliveries over the past three months. Each handed a total of 66 jets to customers in January and February.

Airbus aims to deliver 720 airplanes this year, while Boeing has only set targets to deliver at least 400 737 MAXs and 70 787s.

Boeing is on track to meet its 737 MAX delivery target, having delivered 113 jets so far this year. But with only 11 787s delivered so far, the company will have to pick up the pace to meet that goal.

In March, Boeing booked gross orders for 60 aircraft, which included 40 MAXs and 20 787s. That sum was offset by cancellations of orders for 16 MAXs and six 787s, resulting in 38 net orders.

Its backlog fell to 4,555 orders from 4,559.

(Reporting by Valerie Insinna; editing by Jason Neely)

---