Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are photographed outside a Boeing factory on March 25, 2024 in Renton, Washington.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images
Boeing First-quarter aircraft deliveries fell to the lowest level since mid-2021 as the company faces increased scrutiny after a door seal from one of its 737 Max 9 planes exploded mid-air in January.
The company delivered 83 aircraft in the three months ending March 31, most of them 737 aircraft, compared to 157 aircraft in the previous quarter and 130 aircraft in the same period of the previous year. In March alone, Boeing delivered 29 aircraft. Airbus said Tuesday it delivered 142 planes in the first three months of the year, 63 of them in March.
Boeing customers are still ordering new planes from the manufacturer, which along with Airbus dominates the large jet market. The company recorded orders for 111 new aircraft last month when it canceled two cancellation orders, 85 of which were 737 MAX. American AirlinesWhich the carrier announced in early March.
The latest toll comes after the January 5 accident aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, saving Boeing from disaster. Federal accident investigators said the door plug was missing screws holding it in place. Since the accident, the FAA has inspected Boeing 737 MAX production and banned the plane manufacturer from increasing production of the planes until it signs off on quality control procedures.
Boeing executives said the company is slowing production to improve quality control and avoid so-called travel work, when repairs or other tasks happen out of sequence.
“We're not going to rush or go too fast,” Brian West, Boeing's chief financial officer, said at a Bank of America conference last month. “In fact, we're being intentionally slow to get this right. We're the ones who made the decision to cap rates on the 737 program to less than 38 per month until we feel we're ready. We'll feel that and the impact over the next few months.”
Delays in plane deliveries have drawn criticism from the CEOs of some of Boeing's biggest airline customers, and in the wake of that, CEO Dave Calhoun announced last month that he would step down by the end of the year. Boeing also replaced its chairman and head of its commercial aircraft unit.
Alaska Airlines said last week that it received $160 million in compensation from Boeing in the first quarter as a result of the plane being grounded briefly after the accident.
Boeing is scheduled to report first-quarter results and brief investors on April 24.
