Boeing ramped up its 737 Max deliveries in November and secured a massive order from Emirates Airline for the in-development 777X, giving the airframer’s backlog a boost as 2023 nears closure.
The company handed over a combined 56 aircraft in November, including 46 737s, marking an improvement for a programme that has suffered most recently from a delivery decline owing to a bulkhead-related quality problem.
Airlines to receive the most 737 Max last month include United Airlines, which took eight, Southwest Airlines (seven) and Ryanair (five), Boeing said disclosing its November order and delivery figures on 12 December.
Boeing has shipped 351 737s – including 343 737 Max – in 2023 through November, edging toward its full-year target of 375-400 narrowbody deliveries. It had previously hoped to deliver 400-450 of the aircraft in 2023 but revised the range in October due to the bulkhead issue.
The company has been inspecting and fixing hundreds of undelivered aircraft to address that problem, which involves mis-drilled holes in bulkheads supplied by Spirit AeroSystems.
Boeing also last month delivered 10 widebody jets, including two 777 Freighters, six 787s, one 767F and one 767-based KC-46 military refueling aircraft.
The big sales news for Boeing in November was Emirates’ order for 90 777X, including 55 777-9s and 35 777-8s, announced by the companies at the Dubai air show.
Also last month, Boeing landed orders for nine 737 Max – four from lessor BOC Aviation and five from unidentified customers – and for 15 KC-46s.
Combined, it took orders for 114 commercial aircraft in November, though unidentified customers cancelled deals for 10 737 Max, bringing Boeing’s net November figure to 104 aircraft.
In the first 11 months of 2023, Boeing has landed total net orders for 945 aircraft, compared with 571 in the same period last year.
Boeing ended November with 5,324 commercial aircraft of all types in its backlog, up from 5,239 at the end of October. The backlog now includes 4,076 737s, 111 767s, 466 777s and 671 787s.
