When the pandemic hit airplane manufacturers, suppliers and airlines feared a future of limited air travel, leading to them reducing capacity. Ironically Airbus

When the pandemic hit airplane manufacturers, suppliers and airlines feared a future of limited air travel, leading to them reducing capacity. Ironically Airbus, being a European country operating mostly in Germany and France can't fire people as easily as Boeing can. This, at the time, must have been quite a pain point for them, but ultimately gave them a great edge over Boeing, which has a much easier time reducing capacity. After the pandemic, there was a massive jump in demand for airplanes. Leaving Airbus in a mich better position and now they are hiring massively in order to fill demand. Increasing capacity is very hard though and both Airbus and all their suppliers have to do it, for it to lead to a meaningful increase in productivity. Again, ironically, this is a massive benefit for Boeing as Airbus has a very full order book, buying planes from Boeing becomes much more attractive, because the alternative is no airplanes.