Boeing on Wednesday reported a $355 million loss for the first three months of the year, as it deals with a quality crisis stemming from a Jan. 5 flight in which a panel blew off one of its planes.
The loss was not as steep as investor analysts had expected. Boeing brought in more than $16.5 billion in revenue in the first quarter, less than it reported the same period last year but also a bit more than analysts expected, and burned through almost $4 billion in cash.
The panel blowout on a 737 Max 9 jet during an Alaska Airlines flight resulted in no major injuries, but dealt a heavy blow to the company, reigniting concerns about Boeing’s practices five years after two fatal crashes involving 737 Max 8 planes. Since the Jan. 5 flight, the company has taken steps to improve quality, including expanding inspections, changing how work is performed, increasing training and soliciting more feedback from employees.
“We are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to make certain our regulators, customers, employees and the flying public are 100 percent confident in Boeing,” Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, said in a letter to employees on Wednesday.
Last month, Mr. Calhoun said he would step down by the end of the year, part of a broader management shake-up. Boeing is also in talks to buy Spirit AeroSystems, a troubled supplier that builds the body of the Max jet and which had been a part of Boeing until it was spun out two decades ago.
The Federal Aviation Administration has increased scrutiny of Boeing, capping 737 production at 38 planes per month, though production remains well below that level. The regulator has demanded that Boeing produce a plan to improve quality by the end of May.
Boeing had been hoping to produce 50 737s and 10 larger 787s per month starting next year, but analysts say the company is unlikely to meet that goal. The recent crisis contributed to a substantial slowdown in deliveries in the first quarter, though the company reported a respectable 126 net new orders, thanks in large part to an American Airlines order for dozens of 737 Max 10 planes, a jet that the F.A.A. has yet to certify. Boeing said it has an order backlog of 5,600 planes, valued at $448 billion.
“Near term, yes, we are in a tough moment,” Mr. Calhoun said in the letter to employees. “Lower deliveries can be difficult for our customers and for our financials. But safety and quality must and will come above all else.”
Boeing’s commercial plane…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at NYT > Travel…