London, January 5:

Boeing, the US plane-maker, won a record 1,044 orders last year, overtaking its troubled European rival Airbus for the first time in five years and sealing its recovery from its own crisis earlier this decade.

The 2006 total, announced on Thursday, surpasses Boeing’s previous record of 1,002 net orders in 2005 when Airbus narrowly overtook it at the last minute, winning 1,111 - the aviation industry’s highest ever annual order-book.

The European plane-maker, beset by technological problems with its much delayed A380 superjumbo and a spate of executive resignations, is expected to admit defeat later this month when it announces that it secured about 700 orders in 2006. Airbus made plain it wants to continue the dogfight between the world’s biggest commercial aviation companies by announcing that it had won the first two orders for its new, redesigned A350 long-haul jet - from an American leasing company, Pegasus of San Francisco. It also plans to announce a “major’’ order in London on Monday.

In the tat-for-tat that has dominated the industry for the past 30 years, Boeing countered by saying it had delivered 398 aircraft last year and indicated it expects to overtake Airbus in terms of deliveries as early as next year. Airbus is likely to have delivered some 430 aircraft in 2006.

Both groups believe that the cyclical upturn in orders and deliveries will continue into this year as Asian carriers acquire more aircraft in line with their countries’ booming economies and US airlines emerging from bankruptcy buy new, more fuel-efficient planes to replace an ageing fleet. Internal Boeing estimates suggest 7,500 planes will need to be replaced over the next 20 years.

The US plane-maker said it had won a record 729 orders for its single-aisle 737 jet, surpassing the previous record of 569 set in 2005, and had secured 72 orders for its now venerable but reshaped 747 jumbo, the highest total since 1990. The 787 Dreamliner, now rivalled by the A350, won 157 orders.

Scott Carson, chief executive of Boeing Commercial, said the company secured orders across the range of its models. “The strong orders for the past two years are a validation of our strategy of focusing on our customers, simplifying our product and services offerings and transforming our production system,’’ he said.

Carson, who replaced Alan Mulally, now chief executive at Ford, late last year, believes that the drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions and save fuel will, together with continued cost-cutting by airlines, propel the market forward for several years. Boeing’s orders in each of the past two years are almost four times higher than in the dog-days of 2003 and 2004.

Airbus, meanwhile, said Pegasus had last month signed a firm order for six A330s as well as the two A350 wide-bodied jets, which the Europeans were forced to redesign in the face of soaring orders for the rival 787.

The company, owned by aerospace and defence group EADS, is being forced by weak dollar to cut annual costs by EUR2b a year and will begin talks with unions on restructuring plans, including the possible closure of factories in France and Germany, next week.