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Dive Brief:
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Boeing ended a battered 2024 with a $11.8 billion net loss for the full year, due largely to a 53-day labor union workers’ strike last fall and costs associated with the layoffs of thousands of workers, according to an earnings release Tuesday.
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The aircraft titan fared better in Q4 with a net loss of $3.9 billion, compared to $6.2 billion in Q3. That number is still up significantly, however, compared to 2023, when it lost just $30 million in Q4.
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Boeing’s Q4 revenue fell 31% year over year to $15.2 billion, primarily driven by lower commercial deliveries due to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers strike, CFO and EVP of Finance Brian West said in an earnings call Tuesday.
Dive Insight:
Boeing’s commercial airplanes segment Q4 revenue dropped 55% YOY to an estimated $4.8 billion, according to the earnings release. The commercial airplane segment ended 2024 with a backlog of over 5,500 aircraft valued at $435 billion, according to a Q4 2024 presentation.
Despite a shaky ending to 2024, Boeing began 2025 by progressively ramping up production, West told analysts. Monthly production at its Renton, Washington, factory is currently in the low to mid-20s for the month. As of Jan. 27, the company delivered 33 airplanes and expects to go above 38 a month later in the year.
“More broadly, on the master schedule, we continue to make adjustments as needed and manage supplier by supplier based on inventory levels,” West said. “Over the past year, our buffer inventory has grown to promote stability across our production system. As production stabilizes and rates increase over time, we plan to deliberately return buffer inventory to more normal levels.”
Boeing’s production was largely halted for nearly two months in the fall amid the workers’ strike, which ended Nov. 4. Boeing spent the rest of November implementing a safety management system at its facilities to establish program-specific plans to identify, evaluate and mitigate potential manufacturing risks before resuming production last month.
Boeing released a safety and quality plan update on Jan. 3 for its manufacturing facilities, part of its strategy to improve operations in the wake of the Alaska Airlines 737-9 Max plane door plug blowout incident last year.
The changes are part of Boeing’s overall safety improvement plan submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration in May 2024, with a proposal to address its systemic quality control and safety issues. The downtime between the strike and resuming production is paying dividends, Boeing CEO and President Kelly Ortberg told analysts.