BOEING DELIVERED 806, SOLD 893 PLANES IN 2018

LONDON – Boeing has published its full order and delivery numbers for the year of 2018, delivering 806 jets and securing 893 net orders, valued at $143.7 billion.

The manufacturer’s monthly production rate came up at 67.1 planes across the entire cataloge.

As a breakdown, it was able to deliver up to 52 Boeing 737 Family aircraft every month.

A total of 580 Boeing 737s were delivered, together with six 747s, 27 767s, 48 777s, and 145 787s.

The manufacturer was also able to celebrate two milestones, by surpassing 5,000 orders for the 737 MAX and 2,000 for the Boeing 777 program.

In December, Boeing secured 17 net orders for the Boeing 777 from BOC Aviation and two unidentified customers, bringing the total order count to 2,013 777s since the program was launched.

At the time of writing, which is before the full-year results, the 777X Family has secured 326 orders from eight different customers, 273 of which come from the -9X alone.

Boeing’s Kevin McAllister said that these milestones are an example of Boeing “raising the bar again in 2018 thanks to our teammates’ incredible focus on meeting customer commitments.”

Boeing was also very keen to highlight some victories, with some of the highlights consisting of “Hawaiian Airlines switching from the Airbus A330 to the 787.”

The 777 Family has had continued momentum for 2018, with 51 units sold, mainly on the cargo side of things to the likes of DHL Express, FedEx Express, ANA Cargo, and Qatar Airways Cargo.

Ihssane Mounir, VP of Commercial Sales & Marketing for Boeing was very pleased with the results for 2018. “We are honored that customers around the world continued to vote for the unmatched capabilities of Boeing’s airplane and services portfolio,” he said.

“In addition to the ongoing demand for the 737 MAX, we saw strong sales for every one of our twin-aisle airplanes in a ringing endorsement of their market-leading performance and efficiency.”

It remains clear that Boeing has had a strong year and that through Mounir’s predictions, the commercial airplane fleet will “double over the next 20 years”.

With Farnborough providing a big hit of orders to that count of 893 planes, some 673 units sold, it was quite a successful airshow for the Seattle-based manufacturer.

It will ultimately be interesting to see whether such airshow success can carry on, especially as we approach the Paris Air Show in around six months time, which is expected to see the introduction of the NMA, the Boeing 797.

Also, all eyes are on the new Boeing 777-X, which recently had its two General Electric GE9X engines attached.

The GE9X is the world’s largest engine—so large a Boeing 737’s fuselage could fit inside and still have space to spare. General Electric has been testing the powerplant on its own Boeing 747 flying test bed.

With the NMA program also dubbed to be announced at the show, it probably remains clear that we can see some orders for that too.