Boeing reported an annual net loss of $11.83bn in 2024, widening significantly from $2.2bn net loss in 2023. The loss marks its second highest annual loss on record – behind its $11.94bn net loss in 2020. The company has not reported a net profit since 2018.
The company reported a loss per share of $18.36 in the year, widening from a $3.67 loss per share in 2023.
The loss reflects a particularly tough year for the airframer following the well-documented Flight 1282 incident on an Alaska Airlines flight, the subsequent regulatory oversight, and the strike action in the latter half of the year. The year also saw its CEO David Calhoun exit the role after four years at the helm. New CEO Kelly Ortberg – former CEO of Rockwell Collins – stepped in to take charge of the company in August 2024. Ortberg’s over three decades-long experience in aerospace, coupled with an engineering background was lauded by analysts as a sign that Boeing is on the path to recovery.
“We made progress on key areas to stabilise our operations during the quarter and continued to strengthen important aspects of our safety and quality plan,” said Ortberg in a press release. “My team and I are focussed on making the fundamental changes needed to fully recover our company’s performance and restore trust with our customers, employees, suppliers, investors, regulators, and all others who are counting on us.”
Boeing has yet to reach the 38 per month cap on its 737 MAX programme, having only delivered 17 in December 2024. The cap was imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following the Flight 1282 incident.
During the call, Boeing CFO Brian West added: “As of yesterday [January 27, 2025], we delivered 33 737 airplanes in January with four days to go on production.” He said the company will go above 38 per month later in the year.
During the company's earnings call, Ortberg was confident the company would reach 38 per month by the second half of this year. In addition, he said he hoped the company would get approval for 42 per month “sometime towards the end of the year”. Ortberg said the company would provide “exact dates” on the production approval once the team felt more confident about its performance and also “how the trends are indicating”.
“We have sufficient parts inventory to enable producing at 38 per month, including fuselages, which were a pacing item prior to the strike,” he said. “All three of the production lines in Renton are now cycling in the past quarter. We completed our safety management meeting with the FAA… they reported that they saw significant improvements and we have agreed upon a path for rate increases beyond 38 per month.”
West said: “We continue to make adjustments as needed and manage supplier by supplier based on inventory levels. Over the past year, our buffer inventory has grown to promote stability across our production system. As production stabilises and rates increase over time, we plan to deliberately return buffer inventory to more normal levels.”
Ortberg said the company has around $87.5bn dollars worth of inventory in the company at present. “That is too much now,” he said. “It's been an investment in stability, and we're committed to make that investment so that we can get the factories in the right spot.”
Revenues were down 14% in the year to $66.5bn. Total costs and expenses were down from $70.1bn in 2023 to $68.1bn in 2024. Loss from operations totalled $10.7bn, widening significantly from $773 million in 2023. Operating margins were a negative 16.1% in 2024, falling further a negative 1% in 2023.
The company’s operating cash flow swung to a negative $12.1bn in the year, compared to a positive $5.96bn in 2023.
Boeing’s commercial airplanes segment reported revenues of $22.86bn in the year, down 33% compared to 2023. The segment recorded a loss from operations of $8bn, widening from $1.6bn a year prior. Operating margins for the business was a negative 34.9%, down further from its negative 4.8% in 2023.
For the fourth quarter, Boeing’s revenues were down 31% to $15.2bn, and costs totalled $16.8bn – down from $19.3bn in the same period a year prior. The company reported a net loss of $3.86bn in the quarter, falling significantly from its fourth quarter 2023 net loss of $30 million. The company reported a fourth quarter loss per share of $5.46, compared to four cents loss per share a year prior. The company’s fourth quarter operating margins were a negative 24.7%, swinging from a positive 1.3% a year prior.
For the quarter, Boeing’s commercial airplanes business’ revenues fell 55% to $4.8bn, with operating margins at a negative 43.9%, swinging from a positive 0.4% in 2023’s fourth quarter. The business’ loss from operations totalled $2.1bn, compared to $41 million earnings from operations a year prior.
Despite the heavy losses, Boeing is bolstered by its commercial aircraft backlog of over 5,500 aircraft – worth approximately $435bn. Consolidating all of its backlog orders, it has a total backlog worth $521bn. The company’s debt was $53.9bn at the end of 2024, down from $57.7bn at the end of the third quarter of the year. Boeing had made an early repayment of a $3.5bn bond originally maturing in 2025.
The company said it would continue making important investments into its core business, while “streamlining” its non-core portfolio, such as Boeing Defence, Space & Security (BDS). Ortberg said these will be actioned over the coming months and years. “In some cases, you have potential that you could sell it and there are buyers,” he said in the call. “In other cases, that may not be a viable approach and we may want to just not continue with the next phase of the project. Think of it as more pruning the portfolio, rather than cutting down the tree.”
Ortberg maintained that the “reason why we stay in these programmes” is to deliver “capabilities to customers they absolutely need”.
As of the year end, assets totalled $156.36bn, while total liabilities and equity totalled an equal $156.36bn.