A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is photographed outside a Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, on March 25, 2024.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images
boeing company Aircraft deliveries in the first quarter fell to their lowest level since mid-2021 as the company faced heightened scrutiny after a door jam on a 737 Max 9 plane exploded in mid-air in January.
The company delivered 83 planes, mostly 737s, in the three months ended March 31, compared with 157 in the previous quarter and 130 in the same period last year. In March alone, Boeing delivered 29 aircraft.
Boeing customers are still ordering new planes from the manufacturer, which along with Airbus dominates the market for large jetliners. The company received 111 new aircraft orders last month, excluding two cancellations, 85 of which were 737 Max aircraft. American airlinesthe airline announced in early March.
The latest statistics come after the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on January 5 plunged Boeing into disaster. Federal accident investigators said the door jam lacked a retaining bolt. After the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration inspected Boeing’s 737 Max production and banned the plane maker from increasing production of the plane until it signed off on quality control procedures.
Boeing executives said the company is slowing production to improve quality control and avoid so-called traveling work when repairs or other tasks don’t go out of order.
“We’re not going to rush or go too fast,” Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West said at a Bank of America conference last month. “In fact, we are deliberately slowing down to achieve this goal. We decided to limit the cost of the 737 program to less than 38 aircraft per month until we feel we are ready. We will feel the impact in the next few months.”
Plane delivery delays have prompted criticism from the CEOs of some of Boeing’s largest airline customers, with Chief Executive Dave Calhoun announcing last month that he would resign by the end of the year. Boeing also changed its board chairman and the head of its commercial airplanes division.
Alaska Airlines said last week it received $160 million in compensation from Boeing Co. in the first quarter after the plane was briefly grounded after the crash.
Boeing is scheduled to announce first-quarter results on April 24 and update investors.
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