Boeing on Wednesday reported a big loss for the three months ending in September, but it said other measures of its performance improved.
The company increased production of the 737 Max, its best-selling plane. Boeing also reported more than $23 billion of revenue in the quarter, better than many analysts had expected. And it reported positive free cash flow for the first time since 2023, which investors closely track because it represents the money left after paying for operation and capital expenses.
The company lost $5.3 billion in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $6.1 billion in the same period last year. The loss in the recent quarter was driven primarily by a charge for delaying delivery of a new jet, the 777-9, to 2027.
Boeing’s stock price was little changed in early trading on Wednesday.
“Our sustained focus on safety and quality is driving better performance, while our culture change is improving how we work,” Boeing’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said in a message to employees on Wednesday.
Mr. Ortberg, a veteran industry executive, took the top job at Boeing last summer amid a crisis at the company that started when a panel blew off a 737 Max during a January 2024 flight. No one was seriously injured, but the incident renewed concerns about the quality of the company’s planes. Mr. Ortberg was charged with restoring the company’s reputation and production system.
He appears to be making progress.
In September, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was restoring Boeing’s ability to issue final sign-off on some Max and 787 Dreamliner jets. The agency had revoked that permission in 2019 for the Max after two fatal crashes of the plane, and in 2022 for the 787 because of production quality concerns. The Max crashes plunged the company into one of the worst crises in its history.
In October, the F.A.A. said it would raise the limit on how many 737 Max planes Boeing could build — a cap put in place after last year’s panel episode. The company had stabilized production of the plane at 38 per month in the third quarter, which was the previous limit, and plans to increase production to 42. Boeing is also working to make more of the 787.
The company delivered 160 commercial jets in the three months ending in September, the most of any quarter since 2018. It also booked as many new orders.
But Boeing still has many problems ahead. The company reported a $4.9 billion charge in the quarter related to the 777-9, a large jet designed to fly long distances. Boeing faces a “mountain of work” on the 777-9, Mr. Ortberg said at an investor conference last month. The plane was once scheduled for delivery in 2020 and has accumulated billions of dollars in unexpected expenses over the years. It has yet to be certified for commercial flights by the F.A.A.
The company said it was also “effectively executing” a contingency plan for a monthslong strike of several thousand workers in St. Louis who make fighter jets and other military equipment, Mr. Ortberg said in the message to employees.
Niraj Chokshi is a Times reporter who writes about aviation, rail and other transportation industries.
The post Boeing Reports Bigger Quarterly Loss but Sales Improved appeared first on New York Times.
