Speaking to analysts and investors Jan. 26, on the heels of
reporting Boeing’s fourth-quarter results, President and CEO David Calhoun and
CFO Brian West said they are continuing to talk to Federal Aviation
Administration regulators about what will be required of them to be able to
resume 787 deliveries. In the meantime, they added, the company is
manufacturing the planes at a “very low” rate with an eye to growing production
to a rate of five per month.
According to the statement sent to The AmehNews through
industrialweek saying Calhoun and West did not provide a possible timeline for
when they expect to get FAA clearance but, asked about some airlines’ recent
comments that it could be April, Calhoun said customers “know exactly what’s
going on and where it is. I don’t want to get ahead of anybody […] That’s up to
the FAA, and we’re going to let them do what they have to do.”
Calhoun and West three months ago told investors the 787
project’s difficulties and delays would cost Boeing an extra $1 billion. In
saying that number has now doubled, they said Jan. 26 that those costs – most
will be incurred by the end of next year – cover extra work on door surrounds
and compensatory payments they’re having to send to customers.
For all of 2021, Boeing delivered just 14 787s versus 53 in
the year before. (In all, the company delivered 99 planes in the last three
months of 2021, up from 59 in late 2020, with 737s making up 85% of all
deliveries.)
Weighed down by the $3.5 billion pre-tax, non-cash charge as
well as a $402 million charge on a military tanker program, Boeing reported a
fourth-quarter net loss of $4.1 billion on sales of $14.8 billion.
For the year, the company lost $4.2 billion on sales of
$62.3 billion. Shares of the company (Ticker: BA) were down more than 3% in
midday trading Jan. 26. They have lost more than 10% of their value in the past
six months.
As evidenced by the delivery numbers, the 737 was a bright
spot for Boeing late last year and it should continue to be: West said the
company hopes to resume deliveries of the 737 Max—which also ran into quality
problems in recent years—to Chinese customers this quarter.
Boeing is now producing 27 737s per month and, absent
significant Omicron disruptions, expects to soon grow that number to 31.
More broadly, Calhoun said bookings momentum and client and
prospect discussions about longer-term plans are “still quite robust” and that
Boeing is confident in its business outlook beyond the next few quarters.
“We remain focused on solidifying our business for long-term
success. The lessons we’ve learned and the changes we’ve implemented in the
last two years will help us to do that,” West said on the earnings call.
“We’re driving safety, quality, stability into every corner
of our operations to enable future growth. And we made solid progress against
our goals over the last three months.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment