Boeing ‘Not Out Of Woods Yet’ Company Overcomes Some Problems, But Others Remain

Boeing Co. executives insisted Tuesday they are making headway in fixing their commercial jet production woes, but said five fewer jets will be delivered this quarter than predicted.

“Gains have been made in our factory operations, particularly for the wide-body aircraft, but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Ron Woodard, president of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.

He said the company is “at one of the riskiest points now” as it increases production rates on its new-model 737s as well as the 747, 757 and 777.

“There is still a risk that the challenges to our production system - particularly on the next-generation 737 - could result in additional delivery delays,” he said, adding that “although we can’t rule that out, we’re working very hard to keep that from happening.”

In a telephone news conference, he told reporters the company plans to deliver about 110 jetliners this quarter, down from the 115 estimated earlier. However, he said that number could change, depending on what day airlines choose to pick up their aircraft, or last-minute changes in financing or aircraft modifications.

Woodard said Boeing has not yet determined whether it will take any further charges against earnings because of its production problems. The company still plans to deliver 550 aircraft this year, he said.

Boeing is in the final stages of attempting to more than double its aircraft production over two years to 50 planes a month by year’s end. The effort has been hurt by shortages in raw materials and parts, and productivity has declined as thousands of new employees had to be trained.

Woodard said parts shortages have continued to drop since last month and are ahead of the company’s recovery plan. But the number of jobs behind schedule went up slightly because of continued problems with the new-model 737 line. However, that number still is ahead of the recovery plan, he said.

Boeing had to halt assembly lines for 747 jumbo jets and new-generation 737s for a month last year to get out-of-sequence work back in order. The company has said the problems would cost it $2.6 billion, including more than $1.8 billion written off last year.

Problems discovered during flight tests of the first of four new-model 737s also caused delays.