Boeing delivers 22 aircraft in August and the 737 MAX “white tails” have barely passed

SEATTLE / PARIS, Sept. 14 (Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N) delivered 22 aircraft in August amid domestic travel recovery and won orders of seven 787 in a respite for a defaulted program industrial and a halt to deliveries.

The highly-watched monthly snapshot comes as Boeing tries to recover billions of dollars in lost sales from the coronavirus pandemic and go beyond a security scandal caused by two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX.

Of the 22 airliners delivered last month, 14 were 737 MAX passenger aircraft and two were P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.

The remaining six aircraft were large bodies, including three KC-46 tankers for the United States Air Force.

For this year, Boeing has delivered 206 aircraft.

European rival Airbus (AIR.PA) delivered 40 aircraft in August to reach 384 since the beginning of the year. Read more

As of August, Boeing had delivered 169 of its best-selling 737 MAX aircraft since that aircraft returned to service in late 2020 after a nearly two-year safety ban.

Crucially, Boeing has virtually eliminated a stockpile of up to 200 unwanted aircraft known in the industry as “white tails,” left by the MAX crisis, according to industry sources.

But it faces structural defects in its larger 787, which have caused it to reduce production and stop deliveries.

However, Boeing gained an optimistic note with higher industry forecasts on Tuesday, citing a recovery in domestic markets, although international travel remains depressed and coronavirus variants pose potentially new risks. Read more

Boeing said it received orders for 53 aircraft in August, including 35 MAX and 18 wide-body aircraft.

These include 11,777 shippers: one for FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and 10 more than one buyer or buyers that Boeing refused to identify.

The total orders for August, after cancellations and conversions, stood at 23.

This brings the orders for the year so far to 683 or 280 after cancellations, ahead of Airbus ’net total of 132.

INDIAN OFFER

Industry sources said Boeing is about to win an order for about 70-100 737 MAX aircraft from Indian Akasa, a budget company founded by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, pending separate talks on a deal. long term engine service.

But it remains in a dispute with the budget airline Irish airline Ryanair (RYA.I), one of its largest customers, over the price of a potential order of up to 250 MAX aircraft, as demand for new airliners increases. in Europe.

Ryanair says it is not prepared to bow to Boeing’s price demands amid uncertainty over COVID-19 trends and the suspension of talks last week. Read more

Market sources say Boeing has shown more confidence in prices after securing orders from United Airlines (UAL.O) and others, and after finding homes for all “white queues” except 20.

European sources accuse Boeing of aggressively lowering prices to win deals, a charge it denies.

Asked on Tuesday about the supply of MAX aircraft, Stephen Jones, chief executive of Flair Airlines, told Reuters in Montreal: “I think it has hardened quite a bit.” The airline insured MAX aircraft to what it set a “big price” in March. Read more

Reports by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle Additional Reports by Tim Hepher in Paris Edited by Peter Cooney and Matthew Lewis

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