Boeing Reports $11.8B Annual Loss in Q4 Earnings

The quarter’s revenue results are down 30 percent from $22 billion in Q4 2023 with a loss per share of $5.46. In its Q4 earnings news release, Boeing stated this drop was largely due to union worker strikes by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) last fall as well as costs associated with reducing its workforce.

“We made progress on key areas to stabilize our operations during the quarter and continued to strengthen important aspects of our safety and quality plan,” said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in the news release. “My team and I are focused 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.”

Ortberg said during Tuesday’s call that the aerospace giant was “making steady progress” in its financial recovery. He said that Boeing currently has enough parts—including necessary fuselages—to produce 38 of its best-selling 737 Max aircraft per month.

Additionally, Ortberg spoke about Boeing completing its safety management meeting with the FAA last quarter.

“They reviewed our safety management system and our production status, including spending time on the factory floor,” Ortberg said. “They reported that they saw significant improvement, and I’m pleased that we have an agreed-upon path for rate increases beyond 38 per month.”

He reported Boeing closed out the year producing five 787s per month.

“Like the 737, we’re working to ensure the 787 production system—including the supply chain—is stable prior to making the next rate increase,” Ortberg said.

Ortberg said that Boeing is continuing to focus on getting the 737-7, 737-10, and 777X through certification.

“There are no updates to the timelines we’ve previously communicated on these programs,” he said. “On the 737-7 and 737-10, we’re still working through the testing phase focused on finalizing the icing design solution, which we plan to include in the certification program…The 777X is back in flight test, and we have a good handle on fixing the thrust issue we uncovered.”

Boeing still anticipates first delivery of the 777-9 in 2026.

Ortberg said Boeing is already making progress on its multiyear journey for culture change. He said in 2025 the company will be rebaselining its core values and behaviors for employees.

“Leadership promotions will be grounded not only in what we get done but how we get things done,” Ortberg said. “We’re going to help focus the teams on what it takes to make Boeing successful and promote a culture of unity and accountability by implementing a single enterprise score for all of our annual incentive plans.”

Boeing delivered 348 commercial airplanes and recorded 279 net orders in 2024. The total company backlog grew to $521 billion, including over 5,500 commercial airplanes.

Boeing booked 204 net orders for commercial airplanes in Q4, including 100 737-10 airplanes for Pegasus Airlines and 30 787-9 airplanes for Flydubai. Fifty-seven commercial airplanes were delivered in Q4, 36 of which were 737s.

Full information on deliveries for Boeing’s commercial and defense programs for Q4 and full year 2024 can be found here.