Boeing Co.’s second-quarter jet deliveries slid 54% from a year earlier to 90 aircraft, reflecting the toll from a global grounding of the 737 Max after two fatal crashes.
The planemaker hasn’t delivered any Max aircraft, the company’s largest source of profit, since regulators banned commercial flights on March 13, days after an Ethiopian Airlines jet plunged into a field shortly after takeoff. Boeing did deliver 24 of an earlier 737 model during the quarter, along with 42 of its 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing’s commercial aircraft sales have also slowed amid the tragedies, heightened U.S.-China trade tensions and economic uncertainty. The U.S. manufacturer recorded a negative 119 sales this year through the end of June, with the 737 shedding 180 orders due to cancellations, conversions and an accounting rule.
The tallies are closely watched by investors and analysts trying to assess the financial fallout of the Max crisis for Boeing ahead of its July 24 earnings release. While customer payments have slowed, Boeing is still building 737s at a 42-jet monthly clip and stockpiling completed airplanes around the Seattle area and as far afield as San Antonio, Texas.
The growing inventory costs of the undelivered planes is draining about $3 billion a quarter from Boeing, Cai von Rumohr, an analyst with Cowen & Co., estimated in a July 8 report. Cash generated from 787 Dreamliner deliveries, defense and services sales should soften some of the blow, he said.
Boeing lost its first 737 Max deal earlier this month when Saudi Arabian budget carrier Flyadeal reversed a commitment to buy as many as 50 of the aircraft. The company’s backlog of unfilled 737 orders, after an accounting adjustment, fell by 10 aircraft to 4,415 from May’s results, according to Boeing’s website.
