Boeing Delay Delivery of 777X, and Axe 767F Entirely, as Strike Continues

Boeing have announced further delay to the delivery of their new 777-9 and 777-8F platform, and have announced that they will end production of the B767F.

Boeing have told customers not to expect 777-9 before 2026, and the 777-8F before 2028.

In a message to employees, President Kelly Ortberg staid,

“On the 777X program, the challenges we have faced in development, as well as from the flight test pause and ongoing work stoppage, will delay our program timeline. We have notified customers that we now expect first delivery in 2026.”

According to Boeing’s owned data, 481 777Xs have been ordered, with the majority being sold to Emirates (205), Qatar Airlines (74), and Singapore Airlines (31).

Emirates Airways President, Sir Tim Clarke, was damming in response,

“We have a huge $50bn-plus order for Boeing 777s and 787s. We have big plans for the future and have to be tough on those partners with whom we have agreements in place.”

Finally, Boeing intend to deliver twelve and sixteen 767-Fs to FedEx Express and UPS airlines respectively, before terminating production by 2027.

It is a further dent to Boeing’s already rocky reputation, following the well documented grounding of 737MAX, following a number of accidents and mechanical failures.

All of this is under the cloud of an ongoing strike that seems to be far from an end, with a pay offer being withdrawn yesterday, and Boeing themselves announcing they plan to cut 17,000 (or 10%) of their workforce

Boeing’s Years of Turmoil

The ongoing strike is the culmination of several years of turmoil for what was, until 2019, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer.

In the same year they were overtaken by the Airbus Group, an Ethiopian Airlines 737MAX crashed six minutes after takeoff. A year later a similar incident took place involving a Lion Air 737Max crashed in Indonesia.

This lead to all 346 737MAX being grounded, as investigations took place.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) found that Boeing had refused to repair defects that had been found on the planes, in direct violation of regulations. Whilst a US House of Representatives investigation found that Boeing dismissed employee concerns for the plane’s overall safety.

However, after a series of tests and a substantial redesign, the 737MAX was cleared to enter service again in November 2020 by the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Authority. Despite this, China’s aviation authority had concerns about the plane’s electronic systems, and would need to be ‘properly assessed’ before their own fight tests.

In April 2021, Boeing again grounds part of its 737MAX, because of electronic problems. An FAA review of the 737MAX’s record found that some of the records Boeing submitted were missing key information or needed further revisions.

By 2023, having initially begun to deliver to customers, Boeing paused them again, having found some components from a new supplier were incompatible.

Trouble Further Afield

Away from the 737MAX, in June 2024 Boeing launched its Starliner capsule for its final flight test – a crewed flight ISS space station, itself having been delayed since 2017. The capsule experienced a series of mechanical issues during its initial journey to the ISS, including a helium leak, and a failure of five of its maneuvering thrusters. As crew safety could not be guaranteed, the capsule returned to Earth without a crew.

So Boeing’s ongoing issues are multiple, and appear to be deep set. Meanwhile, its main competitor – Airbus – appears to be going from strength to strength. Will Boeing be able to reassert themselves, or is this just the start of a slow decline of an iconic brand?