Boeing quarterly jet deliveries dip to lowest since mid-2021

Boeing Co logged the lowest deliveries in the first quarter since mid-2021, highlighting how far the planemaker has to go on its road to recovery from a near-catastrophic accident early in January. 

The company handed over 29 aircraft in March, a slight improvement from the 27 delivered in each of the first two months of the year, for a total of 83 in the quarter. The majority of those planes were 737 Max jets, underscoring that model’s importance for Boeing’s bottom line. 

Boeing has slowed the pace of work on the 737 family to give workers and suppliers breathing room to catch up on damaged or missing parts and get its production lines back in order. The steps are part of a broader effort to bolster the quality of its workmanship after an unnerving near-miss in January involving an airborne 737 Max that lost a large fuselage panel.

Rival Airbus delivered 142 aircraft in the first quarter, with 63 handovers last month, it said in a separate statement. The European planemaker is pushing its strained supply chain to ramp up output to an annual goal of 800 jets, at a time when demand for aircraft remains at a record.

“We won’t rush or go too fast,” Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West said at an analyst conference last month. “In fact, we’re deliberately going slow to get this right.”

US regulators have capped narrowbody output at a 38-jet monthly pace until they’re satisfied the quality measures have taken root. But production continues to be well below that level, with Boeing delivering just 24 737s in March. Still, that figure is an improvement from February, when it only handed over 18 of the jets.

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In the quarter, Boeing delivered 16 widebody jets, but none of its 777 freighters. Bloomberg reported earlier that the planemaker has been grappling with a shortfall in supplies, including the General Electric Co.-made engines.

Orders rebounded during the month even with Boeing’s manufacturing travails, a reminder that demand is booming for new aircraft with output constrained at both Boeing and Airbus. 

The US company booked 113 gross orders against two cancellations in March. The tally included 85 Max 10 aircraft for American Airlines, eight 777X passenger jets for Ethiopian Airlines and another 20 of the hulking twin-aisle jets for an unidentified customer. Five jets were also removed from its backlog under US accounting rules for at-risk orders, although the deals remain on Boeing’s books.

Airbus locked in 137 gross orders in March, including 85 A321neos from American Airlines as well as from Korean Airlines for 33 A350 widebody jets. The planemaker suffered no cancellations so far this year.

Boeing tallied 131 gross orders during the first quarter, and 125 net orders including cancellations and the accounting adjustment. The company holds an order backlog of 5,591 aircraft.

(Updates with Airbus data in fourth paragraph.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.