New Boeing Aircraft Isn’t Coming Soon

Boeing, battling one of its toughest crises since conception, has shut down talk surrounding a new commercial airliner.

Such talk follows a colossal loss of some USD 6 billion in the third quarter, one of their worst quarterly results in the last six years.

The firm belief is that while innovation remains important, moving ahead with a new aircraft in Boeing’s current state is unrealistic and an abysmal business decision.

While internal discussions about the direction of a new aircraft will also continue, Boeing must stabilise itself first as a business before even considering formally entering a new era for aircraft offerings.

The knowledge, however, remains and involves the requirement for a new airplane. Boeing cannot continue with its current portfolio forever, and its next aircraft must be a hit from start to finish and one that doesn’t encounter production errors or safety concerns.

According to the planemaker’s CEO, Kelly Ortberg, releasing that plane now wouldn’t make sense. Ortberg recently joined the company to help turn around its fortunes and restore its title as a respected, innovative, and legacy company in the United States.

Boeing aims to build aircraft but hasn’t been doing its core purpose well for over a decade. As a result, change is required from top to bottom to stabilise this part of the business before venturing into a new endeavour.

A Long Road To Recovery

While there may be some optimism that 2025 and the following years will be better, Boeing has already publicly stated that it’ll continue burning through cash in 2025.

Furthermore, while 2024 has had some positives through the major investment in new safety practices, the early instilling of a new culture, and leadership changes, it has only been 10 months. Not much can realistically change for a company with such deep-rooted issues in that timeframe.

In the planemaker’s current state, focus has to be placed on rebuilding core parts of itself as a business and being realistic about the next few years, which will be more complicated than maybe what was anticipated at the end of 2023 when 2024 forecasts were outlined.

Away from a new aircraft, the priority remains to sort out strike action and then stabilise following this with repair work. Next, Boeing must continue improving its production practices to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration.

Once Boeing can do this, it’ll be allowed to slowly increase production on key aircraft programmes such as the popular MAX, which is essential to stabilize delivery timeframes for customers who have long been waiting for aircraft.

However, all these focus points don’t include many other current events, such as struggles to certify the long-haul 777X, which was most recently delayed another year to 2026. Furthermore, two MAX variants remain uncertified and need to be cleared up.

Boeing knows it’s harder than it looks, and it must return to doing what it does best: building safe and revolutionary airplanes that will benefit the industry for decades.

Boeing Hinted At A New Plane

A new aeroplane has continuously been hinted at across the last decade; however, during those 10 years, much has changed at Boeing, which has seen its priorities shift considerably.

The latest hint regarding a new commercial airliner came following a rejected proposal by Boeing that was put forward to unions in a bid to end strike action that impacted many aircraft programmes.

That proposal looked at backing the state it calls home, Washington, and committing to launching a new aircraft programme within the next four to five years, permitting approval from relevant people.

The overall production elements, such as final assembly, wing fabrication, interiors, wires, and deliveries, would occur within the jurisdiction of the union’s 30,000+ employees.

Ultimately, if this deal had been approved, it didn’t necessarily mean that the plane had to fly with airlines in five years, but it did mean that Boeing, following approval from the board of directors, needed to have announced its intent to the world.

That very new aircraft now, however, seems like a pipe dream. Much went wrong at the planemaker, resulting in focus being required elsewhere, rightly so.