Business

/

ArcaMax

Boeing keeps steady cadence, with 53 deliveries in October

Lauren Rosenblatt, The Seattle Times on

Published in Business News

Boeing delivered 53 airplanes in October, keeping up with a delivery cadence it has held in the second half of this year.

In the first five months of 2025, Boeing delivered about 45 planes each month, before spiking the number of deliveries to 60 in June and then dipping back to 48 in July.

Since then, it has delivered more than 50 airplanes every month, with 57 in August, 55 in September and 53 in October.

Those numbers don’t necessarily equate to a production rate; deliveries each month include some nearly finished planes that have been waiting in storage, and some planes that roll out of the factory each month aren’t included in the delivery total as they wait in storage. But the number of deliveries can be an indicator of Boeing’s production pace.

The aerospace manufacturer slowed production last year after a panel flew off a 737 Max midflight. Since then, it has worked with the FAA to create a series of metrics to gauge the health of its production system and increase the production rate when all of those metrics are metaphorically flashing green.

In October, the FAA lifted a production cap put in place after the panel blowout, allowing the manufacturer to increase monthly Max production from 38 to 42. CEO Kelly Ortberg told analysts on a call later that month that Boeing was, “as we speak, rolling at the 42 rate.”

In October, Boeing delivered 39 737 Maxes, including nine to Southwest, five to European carrier Ryanair and two to Alaska Airlines. It also delivered one 737 NG to its defense division.

Comparatively, Boeing delivered 40 Maxes in September, 42 in August and 37 in July.

Boeing delivered seven 787s last month, matching its output in September. It delivered nine 787s in August and eight in July.

 

Just as Boeing is methodically increasing its 737 Max production rate, it is also working to ramp up 787 production, though at a slower cadence. It hopes to move to a monthly rate of eight in the near future and 10 sometime next year, Ortberg said in October.

Last week, Boeing broke ground on a $1 billion expansion of its North Charleston, South Carolina, 787 campus, where it will make room for a third 787 final assembly line to increase its output into “the teens,” Ortberg said.

Boeing also delivered two 777 freighters and four 767s last month, including one each to UPS and FedEx and two to its defense division.

Boeing booked 15 gross orders in October: eight for the 737 Max and seven for the 787 Dreamliner.

That brings its total order book for the 787 to 320 for the year, marking 2025 as the second-best sales year for the widebody family since 2007. That year, Boeing booked 369 orders for the 787.

Last month, Boeing also recorded seven 737 Max cancellations. Factoring in cancellations and accounting principles that differentiate between firm orders and those that are less certain, Boeing booked 10 net orders in October.

In the first 10 months of the year, Boeing delivered 493 airplanes, including 364 Maxes and 68 787s.

It recorded 836 gross orders, which, when factoring in cancellations and accounting principles, increased to 847 net orders. Its backlog dropped from 5,954 at the end of September to 5,911 at the end of October.


©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus