After more than a year with obstacles in the deliveries of the Boeing 787, the American manufacturer has managed to resume deliveries of the aircraft since August. The first delivery after a long period of manufacturing adjustments went to American.
At that time, Lufthansa received its first example of the 787, in addition to the 787-10 delivered to KLM two years after the last delivery. So far, Boeing has delivered two aircraft of the type, and there are possibilities that KLM will receive two more aircraft this month.
Airlines are counting on the new deliveries to expand their fleets and also replace aging planes with new, modern 787s. As one of American's flagship aircraft, the US carrier expects to receive nine more planes by the end of the year.
Boeing still has in its backlog another 400 787 aircraft to manufacture and deliver, in addition to the 110 already manufactured but not yet delivered.
With the resumption of deliveries, Boeing expects to increase the production rate of the 787 to five aircraft per month. So far, the manufacturer is betting its chips on the 737 MAX and racing against time to certify the other two family variants.
Not counting the 787, Boeing has 3.959 orders for new aircraft, 3.550 for the 737, the last three 747s, 104 767s and another 302 for the 777. Despite the good numbers, the manufacturer did not have a good month of August, closing only 30 new orders. As a comparison, the month of July saw 130 new orders.
Gradual deliveries for 787s help Boeing deplete aircraft inventory, allowing for an increase in the monthly manufacturing rate. If it can raise the monthly number, Boeing will be able to reach its target for annual cash flow.
With information from Simple flying
