Boeing shares fall after announcing losses of more than $6 billion during Q3

Boeing shares fell by more than 2% during trading on Wednesday on Wall Street, after announcing its business results, which revealed that the company had incurred losses of billions of dollars, the largest since 2020.

According to CNBC, Boeing said today, Wednesday, that it had incurred a net loss of $6.17 billion during the third quarter of 2024, affected by the repercussions of the strike of its workers, which includes more than 33,000 workers since the middle of last month, in addition to high expenses in the commercial aviation and defense and space branches.

The business results showed that the company’s revenues decreased during the third quarter of the year by about 2% compared to the same period last year. The company revealed burdens of more than five billion dollars across its commercial and defense units, and said that it ended the third quarter with $10.5 billion in cash and marketable securities.

The losses of the commercial aircraft unit swelled to more than four billion dollars from a loss of $678 million in the same period last year. The losses were linked to a further delay in Boeing’s 777X widebody jet to 2026, and another delay related to the 767. Boeing plans to end production of those planes when orders for them are filled in 2027.

The company’s defense unit lost $2.4 billion in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $924 million in the same period in 2023, with the reasons tied to several programs, including the KC-46 tanker and the troubled Starliner spacecraft. The Starliner capsule returned empty from the International Space Station this summer, without the two NASA astronauts who were originally traveling to space on board.

The company announced the departure of defense chief executive Ted Colbert in September.

Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, said in his first quarterly call with analysts on Wednesday that the company is reviewing its various businesses and laying out a vision for a leaner future for the struggling aircraft maker.

Meanwhile, thousands of striking Boeing machinists will vote on a new labor contract, and Ortberg said he was optimistic about reaching an agreement.

No decisions have been made yet, Ortberg said Wednesday. “I think our core business of commercial airplanes and core defense products will always remain with Boeing.”

Of the Starliner issue, Ortberg said, “My reaction is that we have to improve our systems engineering and design capabilities so that this doesn’t happen again.”