An order from Eva Air for four widebody jets was the sole commercial bright spot for Boeing in May, a month during which the company’s order and delivery pace remained curtailed amid a regulatory review by China and company efforts to shore-up production quality.
Tawainese carrier Eva’s commitment for four 787-10s was Boeing’s only deal for new aircraft during May, when it also lost an order for a single 737 Max due to a cancellation by Aerolineas Argentinas, the airframer said on 11 June.
Boeing describes the month’s order and delivery activity as “modest”, and says it is implementing a “safety and quality” plan while remaining affected by lingering supply chain troubles.
Following the 5 January in-flight blow-out of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9’s door-plug, the US manufacturer significantly slowed production in a bid to fix nagging quality and safety problems.
Boeing has taken responsibility for that incident, which did not cause significant injuries to passengers or crew and which investigators have suggested resulted from workers at Boeing’s Renton 737 production facility failing to install bolts intended to secure the plug.
Boeing in May delivered only 24 aircraft of all types, among them just 19 737 Max jets; prior to the January incident, the airframer had hoped by now to be delivering at least 38 737 Max each month.
Carriers to receive 737 Max aircraft during May included Air India, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Copa, Ryanair and Southwest Airlines, says.
It also handed over five widebody jets last month: two 767-based KC-46 military refuelling tankers, one 767-300 Freighter to FedEx, and one 787-9 each to lessor Air Lease and to China Southern Airlines.
Boeing last month had disclosed having halted aircraft deliveries to Chinese customers due to concern by China’s aviation regulator about lithium batteries in cockpit-voice recorders. Boeing says it was able to deliver the single 787 to China Southern in May because that jet had received an airworthiness certification prior to the delivery stoppage.
Boeing ended May with orders for 5,625 aircraft in its backlog, down from 5,646 at the end of April. The backlog includes 4,320 737s, 96 767s, 489 777s and 720 787s.
