American Airlines Flight 718, the United States’ first commercial Boeing 737 MAX flight since regulators lifted a 20-month ban in November, takes off from Miami, Florida on December 29, 2020.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Boeing said on Tuesday that it delivered 26 planes to customers last month, but order cancellations continued to outpace new sales, as the manufacturer is still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chicago-based company sold four new aircraft in January, 747-8 freighters to cargo airline Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and recorded six cancellations.
Boeing’s portfolio of aircraft ordered but not yet delivered was 4,016 at the end of the month, including routine adjustments to orders the company sees as at risk, compared to 4,055 at the end of December. In January 2020, Boeing’s order book stood at 5,393.
The 26 deliveries included 21 of its 737 Max planes. Boeing resumed deliveries of the besieged jets to airlines in December, after federal regulators lifted a 20-month block resulting from two fatal accidents that killed 346 people.
The company did not deliver any 787 Dreamliners, the widebody jets, whose delivery to Boeing customers delayed so that it could increase inspections after encountering problems with certain seams on the aircraft. Last month, the company said it hoped to resume deliveries of these planes at the end of the first quarter, forecasting “very few, if any” delivered in February.
Boeing’s problems that started with the 737 Max have increased with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has undermined demand for new jets. But the challenges are not limited to the production problems of the 737 Max or 787 Dreamliner.
Last week, Boeing said it cut its order book for its newest jet, the 777X, by more than a third, after disclosing that it does not expect the wide plane to enter service by the end of 2023. This is more two years later. previously forecast and driven by weaker demand and greater regulatory scrutiny of aircraft after the 737 Max crashes.