PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) – Airbus delivered 297 airplanes in the first half of the year after a surge of handover activity in June, the European planemaker said on Thursday.

Deliveries, which have been recovering from a pandemic-related slump, rose 51.5 % in the first six months from 196 at the mid-way point of 2020, and compare with a total of 389 in the first half of 2019 before the global health crisis crippled air travel.

The world’s largest planemaker ahead of U.S. rival Boeing also said it had won 165 gross orders in the first half, but this dropped to a net total of 38 after cancellations.

Thursday’s monthly update confirmed a strong pickup in June after Reuters reported earlier this week that Airbus had delivered more than 70 airplanes that month to leave first-half deliveries in touching distance of the 300 mark