- Boeing’s CFO predicts the company will have negative free cash flow in 2024 due to lingering production issues.
- Boeing has been cutting production since a door plug exploded from a nearly new 737 Max 9 in January.
- CFO Brian West said that aircraft deliveries did not improve in the second quarter from the first quarter.
An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane approaches for landing at Reagan National Airport from Los Angeles, the FAA said on March 13, 2019, when the planes were to land in Washington, D.C. by the United States.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
Boeing will burn through cash this year and delivery of new planes will not improve in the first quarter as the manufacturer deals with production challenges linked to its best-selling planes, the company’s CFO Brian West said Thursday.
A month ago, West forecast that Boeing would generate free cash flow in the “low single-digit billions.” The new forecast shows the mounting costs of the planemaker’s latest crisis.
Shares of Boeing fell about 6% after West’s comments at a Wolff Research industry conference, adding to the day’s losses.
Boeing’s latest production problems came to light after a door plug from a nearly new 737 Max 9 exploded earlier this year, just as the company tried to recover from reputational damage from two fatal Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The accident heightened federal scrutiny of the company, as its executives vowed to eliminate manufacturing defects and regain the trust of regulators, airline customers and the public.
