Boeing has again been trounced by arch-rival Airbus with the US aerospace giant delivering just 157 planes last year - its lowest number for four decades.

Airbus said last week it handed over 566 new jets to airlines in 2020 - the second year running it has beaten Boeing in the annual delivery dogfight.

However, the totals for this year were far below 2019 figures - a record 863 for Airbus and 380 for Boeing - as coronavirus caused demand for air travel to collapse with both companies trimming production levels.

Even before the pandemic, Boeing had been battered by the fallout from the March 2019 grounding of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes.

Greg Smith, Boeing chief financial officer, said: “Through the global pandemic, we took meaningful steps to adapt to our new market and transform our business. As we continue navigating through the pandemic, we're working closely with our global customers and monitoring the slow international traffic recovery to align supply with market demand.”

Boeing also revealed a net drop of 471 orders during the year, largely due to airlines cancelling orders for the 737 Max. It has an order backlog of about 4,300 jets, compared with Airbus’s 7,200.

The 737 Max, which made up the bulk of Boeing’s sales, only returned to service in December after more than a year of upgrades to systems linked to the crashes.

Last week Boeing agreed a $2.5bn (£1.8bn) settlement with US authorities, customers and the families of the 346 who were killed in the 737 Max crashes.

The deal’s terms allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution over the system blamed on the crashes and the company not giving enough information to pilots on how it could result in them losing control.

However, there was some good news for Boeing, with it confirming that freight company Atlas Air had agreed to buy four cargo versions of the 747 Jumbo.

These will be the last 747s to roll off Boeing’s line in Everitt, near Washington, after the company confirmed last year it was ending production after half a century.

Iata warns on zero Covid drive

Separately, a “zero-Covid world” has been criticised as “an impossible task” by airlines, with bosses calling for a more balanced approach towards the risks of coronavirus.

Politicians’ ambition to eliminate the virus completely will have “severe consequences” for the aviation industry, according to the boss of airline trade body Iata.

Alexandre de Juniac said: “A more balanced public policy approach is needed - one that is based on testing as a replacement for quarantines so that we can begin addressing the severe side-effects of Covid-19 policies.

“Science tells us that travellers will not be a significant factor in community transmission if testing is used effectively. But most governments have tunnel-vision on quarantine and are not at all focused on finding ways to safely re-open borders - or alleviate the self-imposed economic and mental health hardships of the lockdowns.”

He said the picture looked bleak for airlines around the world as new travel restrictions squeeze carriers’ finances.

The likes of the UK, Germany, Canada and Japan “have chosen policy measures that will shut down travel”, Mr de Juniac said.

“This approach tells us that these governments are not interested in managing a balanced approach to the risks of Covid. They appear to be aiming for a zero-Covid world. This is an impossible task that comes with severe consequences - the full extent of which it would be impossible to calculate.”

Mr de Juniac said that these policies will mean that the travel and tourism industry “will not recover”, jobs will disappear and the toll of lockdown on people’s mental health will continue to grow.

Meanwhile IAG-owned British Airways is facing the largest ever group claim in UK history, over a data breach in 2018 that exposed personal and financial details of over 400,000 of its customers.

More than 16,000 victims have joined the case to seek compensation before the March deadline and could claim £2000 each from the airline, according to PGMBM, the law firm representing the claimants.

It said the British carrier could be landed with a total bill of more than £800m if every victim came forward.

Last October BA was fined £20m by the UK data protection watchdog, much less than the initial sum of £183m.

“We continue to vigorously defend the litigation in respect of the claims brought arising out of the 2018 cyber attack,” said BA, reported the Financial Times.

“We do not recognise the damages figures put forward, and they have not appeared in the claims".