Boeing has finished fuselage-related rework on a batch of undelivered 787s and continues making progress offloading its once-massive inventory of undelivered 737 Max and 787s.
“We’ve completed the work on the last join-verification airplane in Everett, which now allows us to close our shadow factory and redeploy the people and facilities dedicated to that work,” Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg said on 23 April during Boeing’s first-quarter earnings call.
Boeing had for several years been performing “join-verification” rework on 787s at its Everett site, addressing a problem involving gaps between the jets’ fuselage sections not meeting specifications.
Boeing has called sites where it performs rework “shadow factories”.
The fuselage-join issue and problems affecting undelivered 737 Max 8s forced Boeing to stop delivering jets pending rework several years ago, leading it to acquire a large stockpile of aircraft produced prior to 2023.
That inventory stood at 140 737 Max 8s and 50 787s at the end of 2023, which Boeing had reduced to 55 737 Max and 25 787s by the end of 2024.
Speaking on 23 April, Boeing chief financial officer Brian West said Boeing has now winnowed that holding to “about” 20 787s and 30 737 Max 8s.
Notably, the inventory includes four 787s and 25 737 Max 8s that had been ordered by Chinese customers. Those deliveries are now in limbo, with Boeing having confirmed on 23 April that Chinese buyers are now refusing to accept new Boeing aircraft due to tariffs.
Boeing executives, however, say they fully expect to find other buyers for any jets they are unable to hand over to Chinese customers.
“We have many customers who want near-term deliveries,” Ortberg says. “We plan to redirect the supply.”
Boeing has yet to complete rework on all 737 Max 8s in its inventory. But West expects Boeing will finish that project “and shut down the shadow factory by mid-year”.
