Flight Friday: A320 Family Dominates 737 Family In Narrowbody Market

With the imminent sea change in the narrowbody sector, where the longstanding market-leading Boeing 737, with its first flight in 1967, is being overtaken by aircraft that took its first flight two decades later in 1987, the A320 family, this week’s Flight Friday showcases these workhorses of our industry.

The 737-100 was first to market, closely followed six months later by the -200 series. Astonishingly, there are still 737-200s in commercial operations, showcasing how good an aircraft design it is.

In the 1980s, Boeing developed what has become known as the 737 “Classics.” The Classics are comprised of the -300 from 1984, the -400 from 1988, and the -500 from 1989. Today, there are still a few classics flying and the -400, and to a lesser extent the -300, have found homes as freighter aircraft.

The 737NG (Next Generation) was a game-changer for Boeing. The late 1990s/early 2000s saw four models come to market. First up was the -700, closely followed by the -800, both flying in 1997.

The -700 found a home with Southwest Airlines, and the -800 became a global success. Boeing also introduced the -600 in 1998, which wasn’t much of a success, and the -900 in 2000. Many of these NGs are flying today, and so far in 2025, the NGs still make up 75% of all 737 utilization.

The MAX first flew in 2016 with Boeing starting with its 737 MAX 8, as that was the aircraft right in the sweet spot. To date, only the 737-8 (including the high-density “8-200”) and the 737-9 have been certified/delivered; Boeing is still working on certifying the 737-7 and 737-10. The MAX’s recent history has been well documented; however, in 2025, the MAX still accounts for 22% of 737 utilization, and almost 10% of the combined 737/A320 utilization.

The A320 family has, for the past few years, accounted for the lion’s share of the combined utilization. In 2019, it accounted for 54% of the combined commercial utilization.

Due to higher delivery rates, and lower retirement rates (as the fleet is younger), the A320 family utilization share has increased to over 56%.

With the A320 family becoming the dominant narrowbody and with a healthy backlog of over 7,000 aircraft (Boeing has almost 5,000 737s in its backlog), Airbus is set to keep its narrowbody crown for the foreseeable future.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.