Boeing: No orders, more cancellations for 737 Max

SEATTLE — In July, Boeing won no new airplanes orders, delivered just four commercial jets and wiped another 52 orders from the backlog for its grounded 737 Max.

When the manufacturer Tuesday updated its orders and deliveries website, it revealed a continuation of the collapse of business since the coronavirus pandemic hit the airlines in March.

With international air networks all but paralyzed and domestic routes at a fraction of normal passenger traffic despite a slight recovery, many Boeing airline customers have deferred existing deliveries into the future and avoided new orders.

Boeing’s four commercial airplane deliveries in July were out of its widebody jet plant in Everett, Washington: a 767 freighter for FedEx, a 777 freighter for DHL, and two 787-9 passenger jets, one for Air France and one for Turkish Airlines.

Rival planemaker Airbus won four new orders in July and delivered 49 airplanes: two small A220s and 47 A320neos. It delivered no widebody jets, meant for long-haul international flying, which is the most severely hit sector of the business.

For Boeing’s troubled 737 Max program, cancellations are mounting in addition to deferrals. Customers last month canceled 43 Maxes outright. An additional nine Maxes were removed from the official backlog because the customer situation meant the contracts were no longer deemed solid enough to meet U.S. accounting standards.

This month the Federal Aviation Administration issued its proposed plan for Max design changes and updates to pilot procedures that could see the plane ungrounded by late October and flying passengers again in the U.S. by year end.

The pandemic has left airlines struggling for cash and reluctant to take delivery of new airplanes when there is little demand.