Boeing cuts 737 Max delivery outlook again as it reports $3.3bn loss

Boeing has cut planned deliveries of its workhorse 737 Max jet for the second time this year, even as airlines worldwide are short of planes. The US aerospace manufacturer estimated it would deliver 375 of the single-aisle aircraft in 2022. Boeing had planned at the start of the year to deliver about 500 before cutting its forecast to “the low 400s” in July. The 737 Max deliveries will continue at a pace of a little more than 30 a month into 2023, said Brian West, chief financial officer, as the company on Wednesday reported a Q3 net loss of $3.3bn. West said customers received 88 737 Max planes in the quarter. Executives said they delivered fewer than promised because supply chain disruptions impeded the flow of jets along the production line. “We expect [the supply chain] will continue to be challenged over the course of 2023,” said David Calhoun, Boeing CE. “What’s our job in this supply-constrained world? Well, in the factories, we don’t push the system too fast. We slow down when we have to and try not to compound problems.” The 737 Max brought crisis to Boeing after two crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019. It is continuing to sell aircraft built during the Max’s lengthy grounding following the crashes. Reaching 450 at their height, inventories of the Max were 270 at the end of the quarter, Boeing said. About half the 270 were reserved for airlines in China, but Boeing is now looking for different buyers for some of them as the country’s Covid-19 restrictions constrain demand for air travel and tensions between Beijing and Washington make it harder for Boeing, a marquee American manufacturer, to sell there. “We still would like to deliver planes to China,” Calhoun said. “But we also are clear-eyed about the geopolitical risks that are out there, and we’re not going to impart new risks on our investors.”<br/>