The Fort Worth Press - Boeing 2024 plane deliveries tumble on labor, safety woes

USD -
AED 3.67301
AFN 71.503264
ALL 91.374972
AMD 391.160011
ANG 1.790208
AOA 916.999806
ARS 1072.662301
AUD 1.589297
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.696828
BAM 1.811219
BBD 2.018475
BDT 121.482648
BGN 1.806617
BHD 0.376906
BIF 2926
BMD 1
BND 1.343366
BOB 6.907601
BRL 5.662404
BSD 0.999699
BTN 85.449031
BWP 13.836501
BYN 3.271549
BYR 19600
BZD 2.008011
CAD 1.422335
CDF 2870.999956
CHF 0.882213
CLF 0.024908
CLP 955.839755
CNY 7.268097
CNH 7.299475
COP 4147.25
CRC 502.211006
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 102.050048
CZK 22.976803
DJF 177.720197
DKK 6.876296
DOP 63.324988
DZD 133.713032
EGP 50.568204
ERN 15
ETB 129.85024
EUR 0.921595
FJD 2.327851
FKP 0.773835
GBP 0.76925
GEL 2.759668
GGP 0.773835
GHS 15.454482
GIP 0.773835
GMD 72.127796
GNF 8649.682527
GTQ 7.713223
GYD 209.94982
HKD 7.782825
HNL 25.564942
HRK 6.947303
HTG 130.445587
HUF 372.296894
IDR 16718.576893
ILS 3.725755
IMP 0.773835
INR 85.554357
IQD 1308.299078
IRR 42104.284763
ISK 133.051944
JEP 0.773835
JMD 156.330273
JOD 0.708996
JPY 149.165499
KES 129.247253
KGS 86.535048
KHR 3993.237165
KMF 455.492709
KPW 900.019816
KRW 1471.238741
KWD 0.308329
KYD 0.831751
KZT 503.440561
LAK 21634.158301
LBP 89322.563868
LKR 294.670386
LRD 199.943579
LSL 18.386538
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.811016
MAD 9.629604
MDL 17.958258
MGA 4670.178386
MKD 56.942607
MMK 2099.510008
MNT 3481.383862
MOP 8.013924
MRU 39.697342
MUR 45.624205
MVR 15.4421
MWK 1731.877317
MXN 20.173585
MYR 4.436466
MZN 63.884802
NAD 18.386538
NGN 1536.893581
NIO 36.760755
NOK 10.39571
NPR 136.951137
NZD 1.739509
OMR 0.384995
PAB 1
PEN 3.668903
PGK 4.090104
PHP 57.238189
PKR 279.631053
PLN 3.872133
PYG 7946.798552
QAR 3.640171
RON 4.608694
RSD 108.488768
RUB 84.529386
RWF 1418.368583
SAR 3.750044
SBD 8.500308
SCR 14.484863
SDG 600.465319
SEK 9.873235
SGD 1.343437
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.829972
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 570.385514
SRD 36.855947
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.749777
SYP 13002.468687
SZL 18.386538
THB 34.186323
TJS 10.900219
TMT 3.497766
TND 3.103211
TOP 2.407834
TRY 37.944991
TTD 6.767183
TWD 33.248604
TZS 2646.107198
UAH 41.255737
UGX 3649.561079
UYU 42.148301
UZS 12911.275778
VES 69.589677
VND 25640.752098
VUV 123.375609
WST 2.83707
XAF 607.323613
XAG 0.029495
XAU 0.000319
XCD 2.707403
XDR 0.752731
XOF 607.323613
XPF 110.484353
YER 246.006073
ZAR 18.900395
ZMK 9001.199873
ZMW 28.143801
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    68

    0%

  • CMSC

    0.0600

    22.5

    +0.27%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2700

    9.78

    -2.76%

  • NGG

    0.0000

    65.78

    0%

  • RIO

    -0.3300

    59.9

    -0.55%

  • RELX

    0.3100

    50.98

    +0.61%

  • SCS

    0.1400

    11.46

    +1.22%

  • AZN

    -0.3800

    72.22

    -0.53%

  • GSK

    -0.2300

    37.64

    -0.61%

  • BTI

    -0.8500

    40.25

    -2.11%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    22.83

    +0.04%

  • JRI

    0.0600

    13.04

    +0.46%

  • VOD

    -0.1500

    9.12

    -1.64%

  • BCC

    3.1600

    102.07

    +3.1%

  • BCE

    -0.9600

    21.82

    -4.4%

  • BP

    0.0000

    33.81

    0%

Boeing 2024 plane deliveries tumble on labor, safety woes
Boeing 2024 plane deliveries tumble on labor, safety woes / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Boeing 2024 plane deliveries tumble on labor, safety woes

Boeing delivered just 348 commercial planes in 2024 according to figures released Tuesday that showed the ugly effects from a year of labor disruption and safety setbacks.

Text size:

The annual figure was well below 2023 deliveries and less than half the 766 aircraft European rival Airbus brought to customers last year.

The figures cap a difficult year for the US aviation giant, kicked off by an emergency landing in January 2024 of a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines after the plane suffered a mid-flight blowout on a window panel.

That incident prompted heavy scrutiny on Capitol Hill and from the Federal Aviation Administration, leading to Boeing cutting output on the MAX while it intensified quality control efforts.

Boeing's operations were also hampered by a more than seven week labor strike in the fall that shuttered two major assembly facilities in the Seattle region. Production did not resume at the plants until mid-December.

Those difficulties meant that Boeing's gap with Airbus in terms of commercial jet deliveries widened in 2024 to the largest since 2020.

The US company has lagged its European competitor since a pair of fatal MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 plunged Boeing into crisis. Its last annual profit was in 2018.

Getting the company back on track will require Boeing to achieve consistent plane production before ramping up.

In 2025, "the number of planes they produce and deliver is the real thing to watch," said Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens. "The hope is that the worst is behind them."

Plane deliveries are tied to company revenues, making them a crucial benchmark for financial performance.

- Leadership shakeup -

Heading into 2024, Boeing appeared to be poised for a financial comeback, with the MAX having returned to the air and flown for more than three years without significant incident.

But the Alaska Airlines episode revived major questions about Boeing's operations, ultimately leading to a March announcement that David Calhoun would step down as CEO.

In late July, Boeing named as its new CEO former Rockwell Collins boss Kelly Ortberg, who in October unveiled a plan to cut 10 percent of Boeing's workforce.

Ortberg has spoken of the need for a "fundamental culture change" at Boeing that includes resetting the company's difficult relationship with organized labor, as seen in the bruising Pacific Northwest strike of some 33,000 hourly workers.

After rejecting two earlier offers, workers with the Seattle-based International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751 approved a new contract in early November that includes a 38 percent wage hike.

- Looking ahead -

In the months to come, Ortberg's company expects to complete an acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems, a major supplier that builds fuselages and other parts for Boeing.

The company will also submit a revised criminal settlement with the US Justice Department over the 737 MAX crashes after a federal judge in Texas rejected a prior proposal.

Boeing may also receive recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board on lessons learned from the Alaska Airlines incident.

Ortberg has discussed slimming down Boeing's scope as part of a turnaround to boost operations and improve financial performance.

Although he has not signaled plans to scale back Boeing's space program, Ortberg in October pointed to commercial planes and defense as "core" products that "will always stay with the Boeing company."

Investors would welcome efforts to simplify Boeing's mission, but trimming the company's portfolio is "not as needle-moving as getting the 737 assembly line back," said analyst Owens.

Prior to the strike, Boeing was producing far fewer than the 38 MAX planes per month that were previously approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Restoring MAX output will be a priority for Boeing this year, along with clearing out built MAX and 787 Dreamliner planes in inventory that were not delivered, said Owens.

Shares of Boeing fell 2.4 percent in afternoon trading.

F.Garcia--TFWP