Boeing sees profit for commercial airplane division in 2027, later than expected

By Dan Catchpole and Nathan Gomes

March 17 (Reuters) – Boeing expects its commercial airplane division to turn a profit in 2027, not this year as previously expected due to higher-than-expected costs of buying parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday, in a new setback for the U.S. planemaker.

Boeing’s commercial airplane division will likely post an operating margin loss of 7.5% to 8% in the first quarter, he said. The division lost $632 million in 2025 and $2.1 billion in 2024. 

The company expects to increase production of its popular 737 MAX jet from roughly 42 aircraft a month to 47 a month by year’s end and to deliver about 500 this year, Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said at the Bank of America Global Industrials Conference in London.

The single-aisle jet is critical to Boeing’s financial recovery. Planemakers receive the majority of cash from customers when they deliver new aircraft.

Boeing plans to use a fourth 737 production line in Everett, Washington, that will start operating this summer at a rate of one aircraft a month. 

Deliveries in the first quarter will be slightly down due to damage to wiring on about 25 737s, but the problem will not hurt annual deliveries, Malave said.

Boeing is on track to certify the two remaining 737 MAX variants – the 737-7 and -10 – in the second half of the year, with deliveries starting next year, he said. 

“There’s a number of aircraft systems and capabilities and functions that will have to be (flight-) tested” before the planes are certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, he said. 

Those include the models’ autopilot systems and engine anti-icing systems.

SHARES CONTINUE SLIDE

Boeing shares were down 1%, continuing a 13% slide in the past month.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Boeing shareholders can pursue a class action accusing the planemaker of concealing safety deficiencies in its 737 MAX planes before two crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

Malave said Boeing does not plan to introduce another new jetliner anytime soon, saying neither airlines, new technology, nor Boeing itself is ready for a new airplane model.

The commercial airplane division is focused on stabilizing and increasing jetliner production, and certifying and delivering the 737-7 and -10 models and the 777-9, the first model of its new 777X jet.

Adopting a new airplane model requires high one-time costs for airlines, and no new technology justifies those costs, said Robert Mann, aviation analyst and principal at R.W. Mann and Company. 

The latest generation of engines has proven more problematic and inefficient than expected, which has put pressure on the engine supply chain to keep up with demand for aftermarket spare parts and new engines, he said.

Regarding plans to increase jetliner output, Malave said Boeing is monitoring the engine supply chain, particularly the tension between demand for aftermarket parts and original equipment.

Boeing’s first-quarter 787 Dreamliner deliveries will be down slightly from a projected 20 aircraft to about 15 of the popular widebody jet, mostly due to delays certifying premium-class seat designs, he said.

The planemaker wants to increase 787 production from its current rate of eight Dreamliners per month to 10 by the end of 2026. 

Boeing’s defense and space division should post a profit in 2026 as it climbs toward the “high-single-digit (profit) margins that they should be at,” Malave said. 

Capital spending will rise to around $4 billion this year and likely stay there next year, he said.

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(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle and Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rod Nickel)