A Boeing 737 MAX, 777 and 787 Dreamliner flying together. (Boeing)
Boeing had the company’s most productive year in 2018, delivering more than 800 commercial jets, including 580 Boeing 737s, about half of which were members of the 737 MAX family. Of those total deliveries, 238 came in the fourth quarter.
“Boeing raised the bar again in 2018 thanks to our teammates’ incredible focus on meeting customer commitments, and continuously improving quality and productivity,” said Kevin McAllister, president and chief executive of Boeing’s commercial business. “In a dynamic year, our production discipline and our supplier partners helped us build and deliver more airplanes than ever before to satisfy the strong demand for air travel across the globe.”
The rest of Boeing’s commercial deliveries in 2018 included 145 787 Dreamliners, 48 of the 777, 27 767s — 10 of which were destined for KC-46 tanker conversion — and six 747s. During 2018, Boeing delivered its 10,000th 737 and raised the production rate from 47 to 52 in an attempt to catch up on deliveries.
Despite the new high mark in deliveries, the manufacturer still took in more orders. Boeing reported 893 net orders valued at $143.7 billion by list price for 2018.
Boeing received new orders for 675 of its 737 MAX jets, led by 150 from Jet Airways. Thirteen different new customers ordered the plane, according to Boeing.
“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,” said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing for Boeing. “More broadly, another year of healthy jet orders continues to support our long-term forecast for robust global demand that will see the commercial airplane fleet double in 20 years.”
Hawaiian Airlines decided to switch from the Airbus A330 to the Boeing 787, and the Dreamliner was also adopted by Turkish Airlines during 2018. The two operators ordered 10 and 25 of the jets, respectively.
Outside of the commercial realm, Boeing’s defense business delivered two satellites, one military and one commercial/civil. It also delivered the following new military aircraft: 17 F/A-18 Hornet models, 16 P-8 Poseidons, 13 CH-47 Chinooks and 10 F-15 Eagle models. Additionally, Boeing delivered 23 remanufactured AH-64 Apache and 17 remanufactured Chinooks.