Boeing posts a record US$12-billion annual loss

Reuters
Boeing Co posted a record US$12-billion annual loss yesterday as it delayed its all-new 777X jet again and booked a US$6.5-billion charge for the program.
Reuters

Boeing Co posted a record US$12-billion annual loss yesterday as it delayed its all-new 777X jet again and booked a US$6.5-billion charge for the program.

The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated a drop in demand for the industry’s largest jetliners, with airline customers shunning deliveries of planes due international travel restrictions, hurting cash flow at the United States planemaker.

Boeing said it expects the 777X, a larger version of the 777 mini-jumbo, to enter service by late 2023, delaying the jet’s launch for the third time and booking a US$6.5-billion pre-tax charge.

The firm has been developing the widebody jet, hoping to release it in 2022, already two years later than planned.

A historic slump in air travel has also hurt shipments of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners to airlines, causing the aircraft to pile up in dozens, further weighing on a company which already has a stored inventory of about 450 737 MAX jets.

Boeing said it expects to resume the shipments of its wide-body 787 Dreamliners in 2021 as air travel recovers.

Deliveries of the 787s slumped nearly 70 percent to 53 planes in 2020.

Boeing also said it delivered an additional 13 737 MAX airplanes in January so far from its stored inventory, adding to the 27 aircraft it shipped in December after the US cleared the jet to fly again following a 20-month ban.

The company’s net loss rose to US$8.44 billion in the fourth quarter ended December 31, from US$1.01 billion a year earlier, taking its full-year loss to a record US$11.94 billion.

Revenue fell 15 percent to US$15.30 billion in the quarter.


Special Reports

Top