Boeing resumes regular 787 deliveries in 1Q

Boeing resumed regular deliveries of the 787 wide body aircraft at the end of March but its limited ability to do so weighed on the company financially in the first quarter.

The commercial aerospace manufacturer's revenues declined by 10pc to $15.2bn in the first quarter from a year earlier. Boeing attributed the drop to difficulties with the 787 model as well as a decline in commercial services demand.

The company posted a first quarter loss of $537mn, which narrowed from a loss of $628mn a year earlier.

Boeing limited deliveries of the 787 after the FAA found issues with horizontal stabilizers and aft body fuselage in September.

In the first quarter, Boeing also completed its planned consolidation of 787 production at its South Carolina facility and brought the production rate down to 5 planes/month from 10 planes/month.

Boeing delivered 54pc more commercial planes in the first quarter, primarily driven by increased deliveries of the 737 MAX, offsetting declines in the 787 and almost all other models.

Commercial plane segment revenues dropped by 31pc to $4.3bn compared to the first quarter of 2020. The defense and space sector increased revenues by 19pc to $7.2bn in that same period. Global services sales fell by 19pc to $3.7bn.

Boeing's backlog of orders dropped by 17pc to $364bn from the same time last year as demand for commercial aircraft dropped in 2020 because of the impact of Covid-19 on air travel.

By Andrew Saucer