Airbus sales soar above rival Boeing The performance was driven by economic growth in emerging markets, with Asia Pacific accounting for more than 30pc of orders, and the success of Airbus's fuel-efficient upgrade to the A320 - the A320neo. "It was a tough year for the world economy but traffic is growing and the number of middle classes, by which I mean people with disposable incomes for things like air travel, will triple in the next 20 years," said Mr Leahy. The 2011 record for orders and deliveries beat the previous record of 510 deliveries, set in 2010, and 1,341 orders in 2007.