Only four orders were made for new Boeing aircraft in May 2024 and one of those was later cancelled, according to dismal official sales figures that paint a damning picture of consumer confidence in the manufacturer following a raft of high profile safety incidents, including viral footage of parts falling off planes and doors blowing out mid-air.
Just three new orders and 24 deliveries
In contrast to the less than a handful of orders for Boeing, Airbus netted 15 new orders in the same period (27 in total, though 12 were then cancelled). Making matters worse, zero orders came in during May for Boeing’s beleaguered 737 Max, once the star of its fleet catalogue, after Aerolineas Argentinas cancelled an order for a single plane.
When it comes to deliveries, Boeing managed to complete 24 orders, including 19 Max jets. Ireland’s Ryanair took delivery of four of them and Alaska Airlines took three. Meanwhile though, Airbus succeeded in delivering 53 planes to customers. This comes off the back of Boeing’s European rival also winning the battle for orders in the first quarter of the year.
Ongoing investigations
The sales and delivery news comes at a difficult time for Boeing, on top of a paltry seven orders in April. Worse, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has maintained restrictions on the speed of Boeing’s production, deepening the crisis of its 5,600 plane order backlog. And ongoing whistleblower hearings are taking place as part of FAA and FBI inquiries into safety practices at the aerospace giant, where vital inspections are claimed to have been rushed, missed, and even falsified.
After the death of one whistleblower this spring, classed as suicide by police, Sam Salehpour, a current quality engineer for the manufacturer, told a congressional committee that Boeing has a “culture of retaliation” when employees voice worries. Echoing that and speaking to The Independent, Roy Irvin, a quality investigator who has worked for Boeing for six years and has turned whistleblower, described the company as “infested with ‘yes men’ and bean-counters”. The firm would need to “tear down and rebuild” to change the problematic culture, he said.
Boeing’s share price fell 3% in afternoon trading following the sales release. Now all eyes will be on the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2024, a key hunting ground for those seeking to purchase aircraft, to see if April and May’s sales figures were just anomalies, or a more permanent trend for a manufacturer once deemed too big to fail.
