By Ben Forrest | January 10, 2017 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 55 seconds.
Boeing is citing “strong” commercial delivery numbers in 2016 and touting several airplane program milestones despite falling short of its goal for new orders, according to reports.
The company announced on Jan. 6 it delivered 748 commercial airplanes last year and booked 668 net orders, valued at $94.1 billion at list prices.
That was enough to outpace delivery numbers from rival Airbus, but the company was about 80 planes short of its goal for new orders in 2016, according to Reuters. Boeing had predicted orders would roughly match deliveries, which were forecast at between 745 and 750 planes, the news agency reported.
Airbus announced it delivered a company record 688 commercial aircraft to 82 customers in 2016. Deliveries were more than eight per cent higher than the previous record of 635 set in 2015, the company said in a news release.
These included 545 single aisle A320 Family aircraft, of which 68 were A320 neo, 66 A330s, 49 A350 XWBs and 28 A380s.
Airbus achieved 731 net orders from 51 customers, of which eight are new, the company said. They included 607 single-aisle and 124 wide-body aircraft. At the end of 2016, Airbus’ overall backlog stood at 6,874 aircraft valued at US$1,018 billion at list prices, the company said.
Boeing’s order numbers are the lowest since 2010 and its deliveries represent a two per cent drop, Reuters reported.
Boeing announced its backlog at the end of the year stood at 5,715 unfilled commercial orders and said airplane development programs continued to make progress in 2016.
Key milestones included the first flight of the 737 MAX, the opening of the 777X Composite Wing Center in Everett, Wash., and the start of 787-10 final assembly in North Charleston, S.C.
The company’s backlog is equivalent to about seven years of production, Reuters reported. The majority are 737 planes. Boeing released the following breakdown of unfilled orders for 2016:
- 4,452 unfilled orders for the 737;
- 700 unfilled orders for the 787;
- 442 unfilled orders for the 777;
- 93 unfilled orders for the 767; and
- 28 unfilled orders for the 747.
