Infographic: Airbus, Boeing Deliveries Nosedive Amid COVID-19 Headwinds

Coming out of an abysmal 2019, which saw Boeing's deliveries cut in half due to safety issues surrounding the 737 MAX airliner, 2020 shapes up to be equally bad, if not worse, for the U.S. aviation giant. According to figures released on Tuesday, Boeing delivered just 20 commercial airplanes in the second quarter, bringing the total for the first six months of 2020 to 70 - compared to 239 in the first half of 2019.

"Our commercial airplane deliveries in the second quarter reflect the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers and our operations that included a shutdown of our commercial airplane production for several weeks," Greg Smith, Boeing's CFO and executive vice president of Enterprise Operations is quoted saying in the company's press release.

As the following chart shows, Boeing is not alone with its problems this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the entire aviation industry with full force. As countless flights were grounded for weeks due to widespread travel restrictions, many airlines suspended or cancelled orders of new airplanes, not to mention the production issues that both Boeing and Airbus faced amid the coronavirus outbreak. Airbus delivered 196 airplanes in the first six months of 2020 and is expected to fall way short of last year's total of 863 deliveries this year.