Boeing shares hit after weak delivery numbers for 737
SHARES in Boeing fell yesterday after weak deliveries for its 737 jetliner, the company’s largest source of profit.
Weak October shipments of the 737 put Boeing at risk of missing annual delivery targets for the plane as it works to ease parts shortages that have snarled production. The US company has been relying on profit reaped from faster output of the narrow-body jet to ease financial strain from introducing its newest widebody aircraft, the 777X.
Boeing will need to deliver 72 of the single-aisle planes in November as well as in December to reach its planned build rate, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson told clients in a report. Boeing shipped just 43 last month.
The shares dropped 1.6pc to $351.34 at one stage yesterday in New York. The deliveries data came a day after Bloomberg News reported that US pilot unions said they hadn’t been notified or properly trained on a new safety system on the Max.
The system, which wasn’t on earlier versions of the popular 737, is a focal point of investigators probing the October 29 crash of Lion Air Flight 610, which crashed into the Java Sea, killing 189 people.
“The bottom line here is the 737 Max is safe,” Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said yesterday.
“This airplane went through thousands of hours of tests and evaluations, certification, working with the pilots, and we’ve been very transparent on providing information and being fully cooperative on the investigative activity,” he added.
‘The bottom line hereis the 737 Max is safe’