Boeing reported mixed third-quarter results on Wednesday, as higher aircraft deliveries and a growing backlog of orders were offset by continued certification delays for its 777X jets.
CEO Kelly Ortberg said the first delivery of its next generation of long-haul, wide-body jets is now expected in 2027 instead of 2026, resulting in a $4.9 billion charge in the quarter through September. But Ortberg emphasized in a call with analysts that the delays stemmed from the certification process, and not from any newly discovered technical issues.
“While we are disappointed in the 777 delays, it shouldn’t overshadow the progress we’re making,” he said.
Ortberg said Boeing was making progress on stabilizing its production. The aerospace giant delivered 160 planes in the third quarter, the most quarterly deliveries since 2018. The same time last year, Boeing said it delivered 116 planes.
Boeing also reported that its backlog of orders, including 5,900 commercial planes, had grown to $636 billion in the third quarter.
“There’s strong demand in our products,” Ortberg said in an interview Wednesday morning with CNBC.
In September, the Federal Aviation Administration restored Boeing’s ability to perform final safety checks and certify 737 Max jets for flight more than six years after two crashes of the then-new aircraft killed 346 people.
That decision was followed by the FAA’s move this month to raise Boeing’s 737 Max production limit that it had set in January 2024, after a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines jet. Boeing is now allowed to build 42 Max jets per month, up from 38, and Ortberg said Wednesday that the company expects to raise that cap further once it demonstrates to the FAA that it can do so safely.
If the FAA approves future production boosts, Ortberg said, they’d come in increments of five jets and wouldn’t happen more than once every six months.
“We won’t move to higher