Boeing reported a surprising 3.3 billion US dollar (£2.9 billion) loss for the third quarter on Wednesday, as revenue fell short of expectations and it took huge losses for fixed-cost government programmes including new Air Force One presidential jets.
The American multinational blamed higher manufacturing and supply chain costs for driving the losses in government programmes.
Chief executive David Calhoun said Boeing remains in a “challenging environment” and has “more work ahead to drive stability”.
The adjusted loss amounted to 6.18 dollars (£5.43) per share on revenue of 15.96 billion dollars (£14.02 billion). Analysts had expected the company to earn 13 cents (11.4p) per share and post revenue of 17.91 billion dollars (£15.74 billion).
Today we report our third-quarter results. Get the details here: https://t.co/GOa1ZziCIs pic.twitter.com/btP53IEjCm
Advertisement— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) October 26, 2022
The company’s shares fell by about 1% in trading before the market opened.
Revenue in Boeing’s normally consistent defence and space business tumbled by 20%, and it suffered 2.8 billion dollars (£2.5 billion) in losses on a military refuelling tanker, Air Force One, a Nasa project to build a spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and other programmes.
Boeing has previously posted big losses on those projects, including about 1 billion dollars (around £878.5 million) in charges related to building two new presidential jets, a deal it struck with then-president Donald Trump.
Boeing’s commercial aircraft business has recently shown improvement as air travel rises and airlines seek new planes. On Wednesday, Alaska Airlines announced that it would exercise options to buy 52 more 737 Max jets.
The airline side of Boeing operations saw revenue soar by 40% from a year earlier as it delivered more planes, but it still lost 643 million dollars (nearly £565 million), only slightly less than a year ago.
Read our CEO's message to #TeamBoeing to learn more: https://t.co/e8Frlfa6Gs
— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) October 26, 2022
Boeing was hampered by an inability to deliver any of its large 787 jets to airlines for most of a two-year period because of production flaws, although it resumed deliveries in late August, providing an important source of cash to the company.
In a letter to employees, Mr Calhoun said Boeing is making strides “in our turnaround effort”, and highlighted that the company generated 2.9 billion dollars (£2.5 billion) in free cash flow during the quarter.
“That said, we remain in a challenging environment and have more work ahead to ensure we’re consistently delivering on our commitments and re-establishing the strength of our company,” he said.
He added that Boeing production facilities are “not pushing the system too fast. We’re slowing down when necessary” to make sure work gets done.
