Boeing 737 Jet Deliveries Slide on Max Crisis, Winter Storms

(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co.’s jetliner deliveries fell sharply in the first three months of the year, an early indication of the financial fallout threatening the planemaker after two deadly crashes prompted regulators worldwide to ground its 737 Max models.

The company delivered just 89 of its single-aisle 737 jets in the first quarter, including 57 of the Max variant, according to data posted on Boeing’s website Tuesday. That’s about a third fewer shipments of the aircraft family in the same period a year earlier.

Boeing had been counting on a late-quarter surge to help overcome sluggish deliveries of the 737, which accounts for about a third of its profit, after snowstorms and engine delays disrupted production at its Seattle-area factory. But those plans were thwarted when commercial flights of the best-selling Max model were halted after a March 10 crash in Ethiopia. A fatal accident of the same aircraft type occurred in Indonesia in October.

Boeing shares fell 1.4 percent to $369.26 at 12:10 p.m. in New York. The stock has been the worst performer among the 30-member Dow Jones Industrial Average since the Ethiopian Airlines crash last month, dropping 13 percent.

Through the end of February, Boeing had only delivered 66 of the single-aisle planes. With the Max grounded indefinitely, the manufacturer said last week it intended to slow 737 production by 19 percent as of mid-April.

While several prominent 737 Max customers have publicly threatened to cancel orders, the sales tallies are unaffected so far. Boeing booked 29 orders for its 737 family through March, seven of them for the Max.

The Chicago-based company has netted 91 total aircraft sales for the year, buoyed by deals with British Airways for 18 of its wide-body 777X and with Deutsche Lufthansa AG for 20 787 Dreamliners.

While that’s about half the orders Boeing had garnered a year ago, rival Airbus SE is also struggling with a slowdown. The European planemaker’s cancellations during the first quarter outnumbered new sales by 58 planes.

--With assistance from Tony Robinson.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Johnsson in Chicago at jjohnsson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

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