The company gets the bulk of its payment for jetliners upon delivery.
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Speaking in a conference call with analysts, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said the company’s airliner clients were putting in new orders at “a moderated but healthy pace” and that deferral and cancellation requests are “well below the historic average”. Boeing took an $885 million charge in the fourth quarter to reflect that.
During the quarter, Commercial Airplanes Deliveries increased to 199 from 186, and the business reported a 10% growth in revenue.
On January 21, Boeing said it was cutting production of the 747-8 freighter in half, to one plane every two months, due to falling demand in the air cargo market. But the 747 is a tiny fraction of its overall production, which includes hundreds of 737 and twin-aisle 777 and 787 aircraft annually. However, Mr. Smith said the company would deliver roughly the same number of 787s in 2016, 135, which it attributed to customer-driven timing. The stock has declined 4.5 percent in the last 12 months.
Scott Hamilton, an Issaquah-based aviation analyst with Leeham.net, published an analysis Tuesday estimating that “Boeing needs to sell more than 200 777 Classics, all with delivery dates through 2021, to bridge the gap to full production of the 777X”. Revenues were projected at $93-$95 billion, lagging the $96.1 billion analyst estimate.
The world’s largest jetliner maker expects to deliver 740 to 745 planes in 2016, its centenary year, down from 762 in 2015.
For the period ended December 31, Boeing earned $1.03 billion, or $1.51 per share.
Problems with the company’s contract to build new air-to-air refuelling tankers for the U.S. military and the recent decision to slow down production of the 747 jumbo jet hit profits, which dropped 5pc to $5.2bn during the year.
Analysts had forecast $1.28 a share in adjusted earnings on $23.53 billion in revenue.
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Chelsey Dulaney contributed to this article.
