Boeing served up a mixed bag of commercial airplane activity in November, highlighted by more 787 deliveries than roll-outs and zero cancellations, but offset by just 32 737 MAX deliveries.
The manufacturer handed over six 787s in November, giving it a total of 21 787 deliveries since customers began taking them again in August. The figure is considerably higher than the company’s current production rate of about 3.5 per month, suggesting it is making progress on shrinking a stored inventory that grew to about 120 aircraft during a long delivery pause linked to production-quality problems.
Similar progress on the 737 MAX program remains elusive. The 32 deliveries in November included 12 from the stored inventory of aircraft built before December 2020, which was the end of a 21-month delivery pause related to the model’s global grounding. Boeing’s notional 737 program production rate is 31 per month, which includes a handful of P-8 military variants.
Barring a major December push, the company’s target of 375 737 MAX deliveries in 2022 is likely out of reach. November’s activity raised year-to-date delivery totals to 321. The company’s top single-month total in 2022 is 43, in June.
Boeing’s medium-term projections include 425-450 737 program deliveries in 2023, starting out in the low 30s per month before ramping up to the low 40s, the company said at its recent investor day.
November was the second straight month without a cancellation. Gross orders totaled 21—18 737 MAXs for an unidentified customer, one 767-300F for FedEx, and two KC-46s for the U.S. Air Force. The company’s massive United Airlines order for up to 200 787s and 737 MAXs, announced Dec. 13, was not included in November’s figure.
Boeing’s November deliveries totaled 48, raising its year-to-date figure to 411. It has booked 685 gross orders and recorded 114 cancellations.
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