Boeing reveals it had more cancellations than orders in 2019
Boeing reported its lowest number of net yearly orders in at least 30 years today, as the fallout from last year’s grounding of the 737 Max rolled on.
The US aerospace manufacturer had 87 more cancellations than purchases in 2019, thanks mass cancellations of the grounded 737 Max.
Read more: Boeing 737 Max ‘designed by clowns supervised by monkeys’, employees said in emails
A Boeing spokesperson said the deficit “definitely has not happened in the last 30 years”.
Boeing managed to deliver 380 planes in 2019, ending the year with a backlog of 5,406 planes.
In comparison, its main rival Airbus had 768 orders, delivered 786 planes and ended the year with a backlog of 7,482.
It comes as leaked emails this week revealed that Boeing employees joked around about the technical faults of the 737 Max, with one saying it was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys”.
One said they would never put their family on a “Max simulator trained aircraft”.
The 737 Max was grounded in March by aviation authorities around the world, after Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes killed a combined 346 people.
Read more: Boeing halts production of 737 Max planes
The US Federal Aviation Authority has said they do not expect the plane to be allowed to fly again until later this year.
This prompted Boeing to stop production of any of the jets last month.