Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are pictured outside a Boeing factory on March 25, 2024 in Renton, Washington. 

Stephen Brashear | Getty Images

Boeing airplane deliveries dropped in the first quarter to the lowest number since mid-2021 as the company faces increased scrutiny after a door plug blew out from one of its 737 Max 9 planes midair in January.

The company handed over 83 planes in the three months ended March 31, most of them 737s, compared with 157 in the prior quarter and 130 planes in the year-earlier period. Solely in March, Boeing delivered 29 planes. Airbus said Tuesday that it delivered 142 planes in the first three months of the year, 63 of them in March.

Boeing customers are still ordering new jets from the manufacturer, which along with Airbus dominates the large jetliner market. The company logged orders for 111 for new planes last month when stripping out two cancellations, 85 of them 737 Max aircraft for American Airlines, which the carrier announced in early March.

The latest tally comes after the Jan. 5 accident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 brought Boeing inches from a catastrophe. Federal accident investigators said the door plug was missing bolts that hold it in place. Since the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration has inspected Boeing’s 737 Max production and barred the plane maker from increasing output of the jets until it signs off on its quality control procedures.

Boeing executives have said the company is slowing down its production to improve quality control and avoid so-called traveled work, when repairs or other tasks occur out of sequence.

“We won’t rush or go too fast,” Boeing CFO Brian West said at a Bank of America conference last month. “In fact, we’re deliberately going to slow to get this right. And we are the ones who made the decision to constrain rates on the 737 program below 38 per month until we feel like we’re ready. And we’ll feel the impact of that over the next several months.”

Aircraft delivery delays sparked criticism from the CEOs of some of Boeing’s biggest airline customers, and in its wake, CEO Dave Calhoun last month announced he will step down by year’s end. Boeing also replaced its board chair and the head of its commercial airplane unit.

Alaska Airlines said last week it received $160 million in compensation from Boeing in the first quarter stemming from a brief grounding of the plane after the accident.

Boeing is scheduled to report first-quarter results and update investors on April 24.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

Why the Boeing 737 Max has been such a mess

Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
CNBC

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Amazon cost cuts drive operating margin into double digits for first time

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, speaks at the ceremonial ribbon cutting prior…

S4 Capital revenues sink as corporates slash ad spending

S4 Capital’s turnover fell last year for the first time since its…

Why investors should check the outstanding share count before buying a stock

More than half of the stocks in the S & P 500…

You are 48% more likely to land a first date if you do this 1 thing, new data shows

Sending a voice note in a conversation is 48% more likely to…