Boeing has made progress winnowing its once-massive inventory of undelivered 737 Max and 787s and is now preparing to shutter so-called “shadow factories” in which it has been completing rework on the aircraft.
The company’s inventory at the end of 2024 included 55 737 Max 8s and 25 787s that had been produced prior to 2023, Boeing chief financial officer Brian West said during the company’s 2024 earnings call on 28 January.
By comparison, Boeing’s inventory of those aircraft stood at 140 737 Max 8s and 50 787s at the end of 2023.
The company has been tracking its stockpile for several years since it began accumulating a large inventory of jets when production continued but deliveries stopped the during the 737 Max grounding between March 2019 and November 2020.
But the inventory also swelled because Chinese airlines refused to accept 737 Max for several years after the grounding ended. Many of Boeing’s stored 737s and 787s have required rework due to manufacturing issues.
At one point, Boeing was sitting on some 450 undelivered 737 Max and 120 undelivered 787s.
So far this year, Boeing has already delivered around 10 of the 55 737 Max 8s in its inventory at end-2024, says West.
“We now expect to shut down the shadow factory mid-year, and to deliver all the remaining [Max 8s] to customers within the year.”
Boeing intends to complete rework on the 25 undelivered 787s in “early 2025”, though deliveries of those jets will run into next year, West adds.
Several production quality issues, including those affecting 737 Max aft-pressure bulkheads and 787 fuselages, have forced Boeing to rework already produced aircraft.
Boeing has been conducting the time-intensive and expensive work on 787s at its production site in Everett and on 737 Max aircraft at a site in Moses Lake, Washington.
Boeing’s inventory also includes about 35 Max 7s and Max 10s – two variants of the narrowbody that have yet to be certificated and which are significantly delayed.
The airframer is now working, ahead of certification, to finalise a redesign of the engine anti-ice system on the Max 7 and Max 10, West says. Boeing last year said it needed to redesign that system due to the risk of overheating.
