The bad news keeps piling up for Boeing. The company is delaying the debut of its newest passenger jet to 2025, and it reported a much bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.
The aircraft builder announced Wednesday it would temporarily pause the start of production for its 777X passenger jet, which it planned to start delivering to customers by the end of 2023. Demand for long-range and widebody passenger jets, a key to Boeing’s commercial jet business, continues to be hurt by weak demand for international flights during the pandemic.
But Boeing attributed much of the delay to a longer certification process by the Federal Aviation Administration than in the past. Boeing said it didn’t want to start production before the certification process was complete or near complete and then have to a large inventory of planes that required changes before it could deliver them.
“They take a little longer than they used to,” CEO Dave Calhoun said about regulators during a call with investors. “They’re a little more thorough than they used to. Boeing is better for it in the long run.”
Demand for Boeing’s freighter aircraft has remained strong, so it will go forward with the recently launched 777X freighter before it starts production of the 777X passenger jet. Boeing will continue to build both the earlier passenger and freighter versions of its 777 jet, known as the 777 Classic. Those models are due to be replaced by the 777X.
