Airbus took in more plane orders than Boeing in 2014, but lagged in deliveries

Boeing Co. topped Airbus in deliveries to customers for the third straight year in 2014 — but Airbus edged ahead with more future orders in the rival companies' annual sales battle.

Airbus reported Tuesday it delivered 629 planes, short of Boeing's record 723 deliveries.

But Toulouse, France-based Airbus racked up 1,456 net new orders, ahead of Boeing's 1,432 new orders. New orders are key to future market share.

CEO Fabrice Bregier called it "a landmark year" and pointed to the company's record order backlog of 6,386 planes, or roughly nine years of production.

The company made the first delivery of its new A350XWB plane to Qatar Airways last month.