How much worse is it going to get for Boeing?
Bottom of Everything
Boeing’s sales have slumped in a huge way this year. In fact, for two months straight, nobody has purchased a single 737 Max.
As the Associated Press reports, Boeing has not only failed to sell any of its latest-generation 737 over the past two months as consumers and airlines grow more and more concerned about whether its planes are safe after that Alaska Airlines door plug blowout, but it also only sold three other planes total last month.
Though it had received four orders in May, Aeroleneas Argentina canceled its order for a single Max 737 jet, bringing the net sales down to three. April was almost as bad, the AP notes, with Boeing netting only seven sales the entire month, zero of which were for the latest generation of 737.
Wheeling and Dealing
Boeing is apparently hopeful that the slow sales drip is due to buyers preparing to open their pursestrings at next month’s Farnborough International Airshow, an aerospace industry event that typically sees many deals between manufacturers and airlines getting inked.
The slowdown could well be due to the Federal Aviation Administration capping 737 production after the January Alaska Airlines incident. In its wake, the publicity surrounding other flight and equipment incidents has been heightened, adding more fuel to the fire. The mysterious deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers and Congressional testimony from others have also cast a major pall over the world’s second-largest plane manufacturer.
Between the record sales plummet that began in 2019, ensuing investigations from these safety incidents, and its CEO being tapped to testify before Congress later this month, things seem to be getting worse and worse for the company — but that hasn’t apparently harmed its existing orders. As the AP notes, Boeing still has a backlog of more than 5,600 plane orders. Last month, it delivered 27 jetliners, including 19 Max jets.
All told, it’s likely that Boeing is going to weather this storm — but with how bad the press has been, it’s unclear when consumers will fully regain trust in the industry leader.
More on company trouble: Boeing Starliner Stuck on Space Station as More Leaks Discovered
Share This Article