Boeing delivered just 348 commercial planes in 2024, according to figures released Tuesday, as it slowed production due to quality control problems and a bruising labor strike.
The annual figure was well below the 528 planes Boeing delivered in 2023 and less than half the 766 planes European rival Airbus brought to customers last year.
The figures cap a difficult year for the US aviation giant, kicked off by an emergency landing in January 2024 of a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines after the plane suffered a mid-flight blowout on a window panel.
That incident prompted heavy scrutiny on Capitol Hill and from the Federal Aviation Administration, leading to Boeing cutting output on the MAX while it intensified quality control efforts.
Boeing's operations were also hampered by a more than seven week labor strike in the fall that shuttered two major assembly facilities in the Seattle region. Production did not resume at the plants until mid-December.
The embattled company also replaced its CEO in 2024 and unveiled a plan to cut 10 percent of its workforce.
Boeing also reported a drop in new plane orders in 2024. The company notched 569 total orders, or 317 taking into account cancellations. In 2023, Boeing had 1,456 total orders.
However, Boeing in December did score its highest monthly tally of deliveries for the 787 Dreamliner with nine planes brought to customers.
In December, Boeing announced that it will invest $1 billion to ramp up Dreamliner production at its South Carolina factory to 10 per month by 2026.
With AFP
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