Boeing posted its second-worst quarterly result since before its troubles began with the Boeing 737 MAX grounding in early 2019. The company lost $4.29 billion in the fourth quarter of the year, giving a total loss of $4.164 billion for the year. While that sounds terrible, it’s significantly better than the $8.439 billion loss posted by the company for 2020.
It’s fair to say that Boeing hasn’t been having a good time for the last three years. Three significant situations have impacted the airline’s income, primarily in the commercial sector. It seems things are slowly improving for the company, though.
A tough year
The last year was pretty tough for Boeing. This has primarily been caused by delays to Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries. While the company suspended deliveries in mid-October 2020, they briefly resumed from April to June last year before once again grinding to a halt. Cumulatively, Boeing 787 deliveries have now been on pause for a year. The company is still building the type, though at low levels.
The American aerospace giant has also been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, though things seem to be generally improving. Last year Boeing delivered 340 aircraft. This is quite the increase (117%) compared to 157 the previous year. However, it still sits quite a way below Airbus’ 611 aircraft delivered across the year.
Speaking to Boeing employees on the matter, the company’s CEO Dave Calhoun remarked,
“We are progressing through a comprehensive effort to ensure every [787] in our production system conforms to our exacting specifications. This effort continues to impact our deliveries and our financial results – but we are fully confident it is the right thing to do… We are taking the time now to ensure we’re positioned well as widebody demand recovers.”
MAX to the rescue
A year ago, The Boeing 737 MAX had only just re-entered operations with a handful of airlines. Fast forward to today, and the aircraft is the main jet propping up Boeing’s commercial deliveries.
Boeing revealed that operators had completed over 300,000 revenue flights on the MAX since it returned to the skies in late 2020. The reliability of the aircraft now sits at over 99%, with China finally taking steps to unground the aircraft. At present, Boeing is building 26 737 MAX planes each month (recently, it has built the first jet bound for Norway’s Flyr). By the end of the quarter, the company hopes to have production back at a rate of 31 planes per month.
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Remarking on the 737 MAX, Calhoun said,
“With over 800,000 total flight hours since late 2020, the [737 MAX] fleet has now flown more flight hours than it had prior to the initial grounding. We also delivered 245 737 MAX airplanes in 2021, and we’ve steadily increased production with a focus on safety and quality. Looking back at where we started, 2021 was a pivotal year for the 737 team.”
What do you make of Boeing’s 2021 results? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!
