As the year moves to a close, it is clear that Boeing had a really good year with respect to orders. Despite what was regarded as an industry slowdown and the end of a super cycle. Orders are off their highs from two years ago, but still at a respectable level.
As the table shows, Asia remained a strong market. But the ME3 were off their previous voracious appetites. For Boeing, this was a year of deliveries rather than orders from the ME3. Although Emirates placed an order for 40 787-10s, these do not show up in the Boeing O&D numbers yet.
The “Unidentified” category is always intriguing. In the orders column that accounts for 39% of the total. The one 747-8F delivered turned out to be for Qatar and was delivered in December. As we can see there are a lot of MAXs on the list.
Looking at the MAX program, arguably the most important for Boeing at present we see the following. Of the YTD orders, MAX represents 66%. deliveries have begun in earnest this year.
When adding 737 deliveries the total was 468 through November. This averages to 42.6 per month. In June Boeing announced they had delivered 47th built at rate 47. Rate and deliveries, Boeing explained to us, do not run in lockstep. That said, here is what deliveries looked like on a monthly basis. Remember this is from one plant in Renton. We have previously remarked how impressive this plant’s output is. It remains, for us, an amazing effort.
Arguably the next most important model for Boeing is the 787. Through November the OEM had 100 orders and delivered 125. Interestingly, the 787-9 accounted for 79% of the deliveries It appears the market has moved towards the 787-9 with some vigor. While there were 26 787-8 deliveries, there were only 7 orders. For the 787-9 the numbers were 99 and 74 respectively. Boeing has not delivered any 787-10s but added another 19 orders.
The 777 remains an important program as it switches from classic to X. There were 32 777-300ER orders and 58 deliveries. There has been some concern about filling in production slots on the 300ER line until the first 777X is put into production. It appears that even as orders have slowed, Boeing has managed to close deals that are helping to minimize empty production slots. Aeroflot took six more this year and there are 18 listed as unidentified. United also took four more. No doubt there could be more orders as terms favor buyers for what remains a highly economically efficient long-haul aircraft. As long as oil prices remain soft, the 300ER is efficient enough. By which we mean that moving to the A350XWB is likely to be more expensive.
