Boeing logged more aircraft orders and deliveries in December than in any month in 2023, marking a positive finish to a year marred by production and quality issues.
But despite ending 2023 on a bit of an upswing, Boeing has since found itself facing another crisis after an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 suffered a failed emergency exit door plug on 5 January.
Boeing in December logged new orders for 371 jets, including for 301 737s, two 777 Freighters and 68 787s, the company says on 9 January.
It also logged two order cancellations – two 787s axed by Air Europa – bringing the company’s net new December orders to 369.
That strong finish bumped Boeing’s total 2023 net new orders to 1,314 aircraft, 70% more than the 774 net orders it landed in 2022.
Customers to order the 301 737s in December included Avolon Aerospace Leasing (orders for 40), Ethiopian Airlines (20), Lufthansa (40) and SunExpress (45). Boeing says customers it declines to name ordered another 156 of the jets last month.
The company’s 787 order activity included 11 orders from Ethiopian, 12 from Qantas and 45 from unnamed buyers. Unidentified customers ordered the two 777Fs.
Boeing also managed to accelerate its deliveries in December, handing 67 jets to customers, more than in any month last year.
Among those deliveries were 44 737 Max, one 737NG-based P-8 military surveillance jet, and 22 widebody aircraft, including seven 767s, four 777Fs and 11 787s.
That activity pushed Boeing’s total 2023 deliveries to 528 aircraft, besting its 480 deliveries the prior year.
The 2023 deliveries included 396 737s, meaning Boeing hit its goal of handing over 375-400 of the narrowbodies last year. (The company started 2023 with a goal of 400-450 737 deliveries but trimmed the range in October due to quality problems).
Boeing’s other 2023 deliveries included one 747 (its last of the type), 32 767s, 26 777s and 73 787s.
The December activity left Boeing with 5,626 aircraft in its backlog at the end of the year, up from 4,578 at the end of 2022.
Despite a positive end to the year, a new Boeing crisis popped up on 5 January when an Alaska 737 Max 9’s emergency exit door plug blew out shortly after the jet took off from Portland, leaving a massive hole in the aircraft’s fuselage.
The pilots landed safety and no passengers or crew suffered major injuries, investigators have said.
But the incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration on 6 January to ground some 737 Max 9s pending inspections. Some of those inspections have since revealed problems with the plugs in other aircraft, according to reports, raising fresh concerns about the state of Boeing’s production system.
