Boeing posts £285m loss as 737 Max production dips amid fallout from Alaska disaster

A plastic sheet covers an area of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft outside a hangar at Portland International Airport. This week, Sam Salehpour, who worked at Boeing for 17 years, told US lawmakers he first raised concern in 2020. (Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

Embattled Boeing reported a net loss of $355m (£285m) in the first quarter as it grapples with a crisis sparked by the dramatic midair blowout of one of its planes in January.

The US planemaker said production on its iconic 737 program had slowed to below 38 per month, as revenue fell eight per cent to $16.6bn (£13.3bn).

Cash drain for the quarter reached $3.93bn, less severe than analysts had forecast but still significantly higher than the $786m recorded last year.

Boeing, which has its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, has faced huge backlash after part of the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines’ 737-9 aircraft fell off mid-air earlier in the year, forcing an emergency landing.

It is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and a number of top level c-suites including chief executive Dave Calhoun and commercial airplanes’ head Stan Deal, are stepping down.

Boeing said revenue in its commercial airplanes segment fell by a quarter to $4.7bn (£3.78bn), reflecting lower 737 deliveries and compensation to customers for 737-9 groundings.

Losses widened to $1.14bn, up from $615m the year prior, as total deliveries fell 36 per cent to 83.

The current crisis mirrors those of 2018 and 2019, when two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes resulted in the deaths of 346 passengers and grounded the planes worldwide.

Shares are down over 30 per cent in the year to date, while Airbus’s have risen over 15. Shares initially rose over 4 per cent on Wednesday, before falling marginally into the red.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US aviation regulator, has given Boeing until the end of May to come up with a plan to resolve its issues.

Complaints about the company’s culture have circled for years and a string of whistleblowers have emerged raising safety concerns on its production line.

Sam Salehpour, an engineer at the planemaker, told a hearing on Capitol Hill last week that hundreds of people could lose their lives if Boeing fails to address the issues.

Hundreds of people could lose their lives if Boeing fails to address quality issues, a whistleblower warned the US Congress on Wednesday.