Categories: Business

Boeing aircraft deliveries are the highest in years. Now things are looking up

A Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft at the company’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing will report this week that the company delivered the most planes last year since 2018 after stabilizing its production, the clearest sign of a turnaround after years of safety crises and increasing quality defects.

Now the aerospace giant plans to ramp up production.

“It’s a long way back from a… shall we say, rather dysfunctional culture, but they are making great progress,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace industry consulting firm.

Boeing has been forced to cut production in recent years after fatal crashes of its popular 737 Max plane in 2018 and 2019 and a door plug on one of its planes exploding in mid-air in the first week of 2024. The Covid pandemic disrupted aircraft assembly at both Boeing and its main rival Airbus, causing supply chain delays and the loss of experienced workers even after the worst of the health crisis had subsided.

A Boeing 737 approaches San Diego International for landing, May 10, 2025.

Kevin Carter | Getty Images

Boeing executives, including CEO Kelly Ortberg – a longtime aerospace executive who came out of retirement to take the top job months after the mid-air door jam accident – are preparing to increase production of their cash-cow 737 Max plane and the longer-range 787 Dreamliner this year.

That could help the manufacturer, the largest U.S. exporter by value, return to profitability as analysts expect this year, a range that has been out of reach for seven years as its executives focused on damage control and failed to calm frustrated airline executives waiting for delayed planes.

Their tone has changed as Boeing, with the blessing of the Federal Aviation Administration, has become more predictable and increased production. In a sign of the FAA’s increased confidence in Boeing, the agency said in September that Boeing could issue its own airworthiness certificates before customers receive some of its 737s and 787s after years of restrictions.

Boeing’s commercial aircraft business is its largest division, accounting for about 46% of revenue in the first nine months of last year, with the rest coming from defense and services businesses. Boeing last reported a full-year profit in 2018.

Investors are optimistic about further improvement. Boeing shares have gained 36% in the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500That’s a lead of almost 20%.

“Boeing is definitely better and more stable,” said Bob Jordan, CEO of the all-Boeing airline Southwest Airlinesin an interview on December 10th.

The company will unveil its 2026 production plans later this month when it reports quarterly results on January 27.

Put it in gear

At Boeing, most of the recent turnaround occurred on the assembly floor.

Under Ortberg, the manufacturer has dramatically reduced so-called travel work, in which assembly work is performed out of sequence, to avoid costly mistakes. The company has also made other production changes, including additional training.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in June that inadequate training and management oversight were among the company’s problems, according to its investigation into what led to the door stopper bursting in January 2024.

On Dec. 8, Boeing also completed its acquisition of fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems, which Boeing spun off two decades ago. It now has more direct control over the crucial supplier.

Taking off the jets

Boeing handed over 537 aircraft in the first eleven months of last year. December deliveries are reported on Tuesday, but Jefferies estimates the company delivered 61 commercial jets last month, including 44 of Boeing’s best-seller, the 737 Max.

Boeing delivered 348 aircraft in 2024 and 528 aircraft in 2023. Last year’s total would still be a far cry from 2018’s 806 aircraft.

Last October, the FAA increased its production cap for Boeing’s 737 Max from 38 per month to 42. (The FAA needed its approval after the doorstop accident.) Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said at a UBS conference on Dec. 2 that he expected the company to reach that rate in early 2026. Ortberg told investors in October that further rate increases in five-plane increments were on the table.

Boeing Co. CEO Kelly Ortberg during a media event at the Boeing Delivery Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.

M. Scott Brauer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The handovers to airlines in 2026 will likely involve new production compared to the disposal of older inventory, Malave had said. Boeing is also expected to produce about eight Dreamliners per month starting early this year, he added.

Deliveries are crucial for aircraft manufacturers because airlines and other customers pay the majority of the plane’s price when they receive the aircraft. Boeing’s main competitor Airbus is expected to report orders and deliveries for 2025 on Monday.

Still, several planes that were already expected to carry passengers have not yet been certified, including the Boeing 777X and the Max 7 and Max 10 variants, draining Boeing of cash and driving up costs.

Southwest is waiting for the delayed Max 7, the smallest aircraft in the Max family. The model is important for routes with lower demand so that airlines can avoid overfilling the market with seats and thereby driving down prices.

Southwest CEO Jordan said last month that he doesn’t expect the airline to fly the Max 7 until the first half of 2027 because Boeing certification work is still ongoing. Boeing once expected it to enter service in 2019.

“They’re still very short on delivering the aircraft we need, but I’m pleased with the progress on the Max 7,” Jordan told CNBC.

Robust demand

Orders for both Boeing and Airbus jets look solid, and demand is expected to continue to outstrip supply over the next decade, Bernstein aerospace analyst Douglas Harned said in a note last week.

Airbus surpassed Boeing in deliveries last year, although Boeing appears to have outperformed its European rival in new orders.

Through November, Boeing recorded 1,000 gross orders, compared to Airbus’ 797. Airline customers have begun to look beyond this decade, securing delivery slots into the mid-2030s as they plan for growth and international expansions.

On Wednesday, Alaska Airlines announced it is ordering 105 Boeing 737 Max 10 jets, the longest aircraft in the Max group. Shane Jones, Alaska’s fleet chief, told CNBC the order was a sign of “our confidence in the Max 10 certification” as well as “our confidence in Boeing and their turnaround and their ability to produce high-quality aircraft on time.”

A little more than a year after acquiring Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska also exercised options on five 787 Dreamliners for additional international routes – a combination that gave Alaska more Dreamliners and Airbus A330s to fly to destinations it previously couldn’t reach, such as Japan, South Korea and Italy.

The wide-body jet market is now picking up steam, said Ron Epstein, an aerospace analyst at Bank of America, and orders are being delivered to customers at an increasingly quicker pace.