Boeing’s recovery continues with more Max deliveries
Boeing continued to recover in 2025 as it increased 737 Max production, though the manufacturer kept facing delays certifying new commercial aircraft programs.
Boeing reported a $2 billion profit, or $2.48 earnings per share, in 2025, a significant shift from the previous year, when the company was reeling from a midair fuselage blowout at the start of the year, as well as a Machinists strike at its Puget Sound factories, layoffs, and costly defense programs at the end of the year. In 2024, Boeing lost $11.8 billion, or $18.36 per share.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Boeing reported net income of $8.2 billion, or $10.23 earnings per share, compared with a loss of $3.8 billion, or $5.46 per share, in the last three months of 2024.
The quarter’s massive earnings increase was driven by Boeing’s sale of its flight navigation unit Jeppesen. The sale, announced in 2025, closed in the last quarter of the year and increased earnings by $11.83 per share, Boeing said Tuesday. Without the sale factored in, Boeing lost money per share.
In the fourth quarter, Boeing also took a $600 million charge on its KC-46 tanker program, a derivative of the Everett-built 767 freighter that Boeing sends to its defense division. The charge is related to higher production and supply chain costs, Boeing said, and doesn’t indicate an issue with the tanker.
Revenue increased 34% year over year, from $66.5 billion in 2024 to $89.5 billion in 2025, and 57% quarter over quarter, from $15.2 billion in the last quarter of 2024 to $23.9 billion in the last quarter of 2025.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg expects the recovery momentum to continue in 2026, saying in an interview on CNBC Tuesday morning that the “backdrop from 2025” will set up a “successful 2026.”
But the largest “hangover” from the year was that the manufacturer is still working to certify new commercial planes with the Federal Aviation Administration, Ortberg continued.
Certification of two new Max variants, the -7 and -10, and the 777X family has been delayed for years as Boeing navigates manufacturing issues and a complex regulatory process. In October, when announcing financial results for the third quarter, Boeing took a $4.9 billion charge on the delayed 777X program.
On Tuesday, Ortberg reiterated that Boeing expects to certify the 777X in 2027 and the Max variants this year.
In a message to employees Tuesday, Ortberg celebrated the company’s progress since the 2024 panel blowout, but acknowledged it still has a lengthy to-do list for this year and next.
“As we work together to continue our turnaround, we’re making good progress and there’s a lot to be optimistic about as we start the year,” Ortberg wrote Tuesday. “At the same time, with progress comes expectations, and our customers and stakeholders are going to expect more from us this year.”
Operationally, Boeing had a successful 2025. It increased monthly Max production, winning approval from the FAA to increase monthly output for the first time since the midair fuselage blowout at the start of 2024.
Over the course of the year, it delivered 600 commercial airplanes, its highest annual output since 2018, and booked 1,173 aircraft orders, a massive increase from the previous year and the fifth-highest annual count in Boeing’s history.
Boeing lagged behind its European rival Airbus on the pace of deliveries but beat its competitor’s order book for the first time in several years.
Last year, Boeing also increased production of its 787 widebody plane in North Charleston, S.C., and broke ground on a $1 billion site expansion to further increase production rates for the Dreamliner.
In its defense division, Boeing won a contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s future fighter jet, the F-47. It also faced a three-month strike in its St. Louis defense factories, though the company maintained the work stoppage did not materially affect production or financial results.
In the last quarter of the year, Boeing cleared regulatory approval to complete its acquisition of supplier Spirit AeroSystems, an $8.3 billion deal that included Boeing taking on $3.6 billion of Spirit’s debt.