In January, Boeing posted zero orders for new planes, the first time that has happened \since 1962, as the company's once best-selling jet, the 737 Max remains grounded.
Boeing, however, did deliver eight commercial planes last month: six 787 Dreamliners, two 777s. The rest of the 13 orders last month were military versions of its commercial jets, including two Air Force KC-46 tankers that are based on the 767 airframe, according to
Investors Business Daily.
In contrast,
European rival Airbus said last week that it recorded 274 commercial aircraft orders in January and delivered 31 aircraft. The Paris-based company said this was its best January in at least 15 years, according to
Reuters.
Because Boeing has continued to pushback on expectations for when the 737 Max will be safe enough to fly again, the issue has hit them financially. Without orders coming in, they can't build planes, and, no deliveries mean no money coming in. This situation has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars for the company - as well as its suppliers.
Suppliers have had to layoff workers and extending the crisis, airlines had to pull the 737 Max out of flying schedules, resulting in thousands of flight cancellations. What's worse - Boeing's debt doubled in 2019, to $27.3 billion. This is expected to grow as Boeing compensates airline customers and suppliers while fighting lawsuits and paying workers’ salaries.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on narrowing the issues that need to be addressed before the 737 Max can conduct a certification test flight. "We are following a very diligent process and it is important that we stay focused on the process and not on the timeline," FAA Administrator Steve Dickson told
reporters.
"Having said that we are approaching a milestone: the certification flight is the next major milestone and once that is completed I think we will have a good bit more clarity on where the process goes forward from there," he said during a visit to the Singapore Airshow.
