Boeing 737 Max aircraft sit at the airport in Renton, Washington.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC
Boeing delivered 348 aircraft in 2024, about a third less than a year earlier as the aviation giant he fought with the crisis after the explosion of the door panel in the air a year ago ia strike of machinists in the fall, which stopped production.
The result widened the delivery gap with Boeing’s main rival, Airbus, which delivered 766 jets to customers last year, the most since 2019, although both companies face supply chain tensions which have slowed down production and the fulfillment of their otherwise large backlogs.
In December, Boeing delivered 30 planes after restarting production of its best-selling 737 Max jets following a nearly eight-week strike by engineers that ended a month earlier. Deliveries are crucial for the manufacturers because that’s when customers pay most of the cost of the aircraft.
A shortage of aircraft at suppliers has pushed up lease rates, with leases expected to hit records this year, aviation data firm IBA said in a report this month.
Boeing recorded 142 gross orders for new aircraft in December, including 100 737 Maxes for Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and 30 787s for flydubai, whose purchase intent was first unveiled at the Dubai Air Show in late 2023. Boeing also took more than 130 orders off its books for India’s now-defunct carrier Jet Airways.
Boeing’s gross orders for the year totaled 569, while net orders totaled 377 airplanes — 317 including accounting adjustments. Airbus, which released its December and full-year report last week, said it recorded 878 gross orders and 826 net orders last year.
Boeing is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year results before the market opens on Jan. 28, when CEO Kelly Ortberg and other Boeing executives will face questions from investors about their plans to boost production and restore the aerospace giant’s profitability.
