Boeing Suffers 2 Consecutive Months With No Airline Orders

 After a year of setbacks resulting from the Boeing 737 MAX grounding, 2020 has proven especially detrimental to Boeing's commercial jet sales.

The Chicago-based aerospace giant reported no orders for new airliners in October and September, and orders for 37 of its MAX jets were cancelled as the company struggles to regain footing with the grounding of its MAX jet and a global pandemic that crippled the airline industry.

Boeing 737 MAX Jet

The company last reported a new aircraft order in August. It has failed to record any orders for commercial planes in five out of 10 months of this year.

Customers canceled orders for 12 Max jets, and Boeing had to drop another 24 orders last month as it scales down production to match demand.

Boeing depends on deliveries for its cash flow, the company delivered only 13 airliner in October, down from 20 in October 2019.

Boeing's backlog of MAX jets has shrunk by more than 1,000 orders this year, and it attributed dropping the latest 25 jets from its backlog because of the financial weakness of its buyers.

Aircraft parts buyers are already capitalizing off retired aircraft from the air lines that were to purchase these jets. As more airlines ground their planes, they are retiring fleets early and see less reason to invest in new aircraft. These dismantlers are anticipating more MRO activity than new parts aquisition.

The MAX has being grounded worldwide since March 2019 after two crashes killed over 300 people combined. Boeing expects the U.S. safety regulators to approve changes it made to its software, computers and pilot training by the end of the year, and to clear the plane to resume flying.

With the amount of orders being cancelled, it remains to be seen how many MAX jets will be flying by the time its cleared for flight, and how Boeing will pull through with a dwindling backlog of aircraft.

Meanwhile, Boeing's rival Airbus had a better month, booking 11 new orders and delivering 72 planes in October. If dismantling companies are looking for companies to buy their used parts, Airbus may be a good pitch.

Airbus and Boeing sitting on fleets of undelivered jets amid COVID-19

Airbus and Boeing, two of the world's leading commercial jet manufacturers are sitting on large fleets of undelivered commercial jets as airline flying takes a sharp downturn due to COVID-19. They still hold 199 undelivered aircraft months into a pandemic that has significantly reduced the demand for airline travel and airlines' requests for new aircraft.

The produced and undelivered aircraft foreshadow a slower come-back for the commercial aviation industry than was previously expected, and these accumulating number of planes and low quarterly numbers have led to reduced production rates.

As of October 1, the companies reported 622 jets that completed their first flight still sat undelivered in their possession, according to Cirium fleets data.

This number is down slightly from 628 they held in July, but the slow rate at which these companies clear out their inventory reflects the airline industry's slow and crippled recovery won't be accelerating anytime soon.

The Boeing 737 MAX accounts for a large number of the undelivered aircraft.

Boeing already suffered a blow in 2019 after issues with its 737 MAX flight controls led to two deadly airline crashes.  Boeing continuing producing the jet amid a regulatory worldwide grounding that kept it from delivering these jets before the pandemic.  

The American manufacturer reported 478 undelivered aircraft on October 1, up from July's 462. The 737 MAX accounts for 423 of the undelivered aircraft.

This new jump in grounded aircraft reflects undelivered 787s, of which it now has 44. It also has also has the 423 737 Max, two 747-8 Freighters, one 767-300F and eight 777s.

Airbus is sitting on 10 A220s amid the airline downturn.

Airbus's inventory stood at 144 jets on October 1, down from 166 and the end of July. This undelivered fleet includes 10 A220s, 89 A320-family series jets, 14 A330s, 26 A350s and five A380s, according to Cirium data.

Historically, aircraft production rates and delivery rates have have so closely mirrored each other that these figures were nearly synonymous, said Alex Kruts, managing director at aerospace and defense advisory Patriot Industrial Partners.

In August, Airbus delivered 39 new jets and Boeing 13, both numbers significantly lower than their current production.

But with the coronavirus impacts on the industry, the demand for new jets has taken a sharp downturn. The manufacturers also said travel restrictions hindered their ability to deliver these new jets even in the even an airline requested it.

Does this impact the long-term outlook for aircraft parts and dismantling as well?

Here are the trends we're aware of so far. Boeing has found despite the crisis, some airlines could still be interested in ordering the Boeing 737 MAX at lower prices, viewing it as a long-life asset at a crisis price.

Aircraft part distributors have seen a similar trend. A few dedicated distributors we have seen offered high-quality at low prices even before the pandemic, but now with a reduced demand for airliners and commercial aircraft parts, they are the ones being sought out by major companies to make up for the lower prices at which they must sell their aircraft.

Here are a few of the distributors we've seen succeed throughout the ups and downs of the past year:

aerospace-adhesive.com

aerospace-bearing.com

aerospace-hardware.parts

aircraft-instruments.com

aerospace-supplies.com

Boeing Moves 787 Production to South Carolina to Cut Costs

Following the failure of the Boeing 737 MAX and the onset of coronavirus, Boeing faces some challenging blows to its commercial aircraft production.

The latest of which: moving production of its 787 Dreamliner jet completely to North Charleston, South Carolina instead of building the wide-body jet in two different facilities. The large aircraft manufacturer confirmed on Thursday that it will end 787 production at its plant in Everett, Washington, by mid-2021.

This move has been long-rumored, but was only now officially announced, and it not only comes as a blow to the Washington aerospace industry but suggests a lower expectations for a rise in 787 production to return to pre-COVID-19 levels anytime soon.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Last year, Boing increased the production of its 787 family to meet high demand. The small and medium wide-body jets were being built at a rate of 14 per month in 2019, up from 12 per month the previous year. 

This was the highest production rate for a wide-body jets in history, and to keep up Boeing experimented with building the Dreamliner in two different facilities: at its main wide-body plant in Washington headquarters, and in its newer factory in South Carolina.

The sharp downturn in long-haul commercial travel due to the pandemic quickly made this production rate unsustainable for an industry that has now grounded hundreds of aircraft. In fact, Boeing has fleets of mint-condition commercial aircraft sitting undelivered on the tarmac due impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, Boeing has sharply decreased its 787 Dreamliner production plans. It has already reduced output from 14 aircraft per month to 10 per month, and it plants to cut back to only 6 per month in 2021.

This decision came after Boeing's second quarter earnings report, in which CEO David Calhoun said the company would "prudently evaluate the most efficient way to product the 787 to include the studying the feasibility of consolidating our 787 production into one location" in response to the decline in production.

While earlier in the pandemic Boeing management seemed optimistic that business would go back to normal within a few years, this decision to consolidate all 787 production to South Carolina speaks otherwise.

The North Charleston plant is the more economic choice of the two plants, but it can only build seven or eight 787 Dreamliners per months with its current infrastructure. If production rates were to increase, it would require significant investments to hire new workers, tooling, and factory space that already exists in Everett.

Next year, the plant will be down to building just five or six aircraft per month. We can only assume that the move to North Charleston foreshadows production rates will stay below eight 787s per month for years to come, because Boeing would not justify a major shift to underutilize one of its largest plants if this was not the case.

Some distributors have seen a similar curve in the demand for commercial parts as the production ramped up and slowed down because of COVID-19 impacts, but an aircraft parts boom from dismantling grounded planes may boost the industry.

For now, providers of commercial aircraft parts can expect to make many more shipments to North Charleston than Everett.

Aircraft Dismantling Aircraft Teardown

Aircraft Dismantling and Making Into Something Else

Where Retired Planes Go To

Retirement age is something that we all have to undergo and reach at a certain point in time - so as the situation with planes. Unlike the engines and other important engine parts, most of the plane parts are gone and put to waste. Developing countries certainly have that much of parts of planes left in them to rot only adding to the unused garbage the world has now been accumulation. It is said that a huge number of 12,000 aircraft which are old enough to not function anymore is set to be decommissioned by 2020 and at the moment, more or less 3,000 planes are abandoned in some developing countries. Aircraft dismantling is usually one of those that tend to collect a very small amount aircraft parts for reuse.

Fighting the Urge to Rot

Aircraft teardown is inevitable though many nature sensible individuals now tend to make use of aircraft parts in order to make it into another creative masterpiece. Aircraft parts are as sturdy as can be so that they can withstand wind velocity and other factors while staying suspended in the sky. This is a promising quality of the unwanted planes that can be reused and recreated to form a new purpose which is, in most times, for furniture. There are several brands that tend to make use of trolleys in order to make the most luxurious of furniture. Little did the many manufacturers know that aircraft recycling can earn a lot of money.

Purpose for Old Aircraft

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle had been the motto in order to reduce scrap that tends to litter mother earth. Garbage as big as worn down aircraft is now being transformed into several things not only big on their sturdiness but famous in making a creative mark no matter what purpose it is designed. Taking for instance the remarkable Costa Verde which is a luxurious hotel made from the worn down Boeing 727. There is a creative purpose in choosing to make this plane a hotel but it is also a great big help in creating ideas on how to make use of planes when people think that there is no hope for them.

Furniture makers as a name must be handed down to the Europeans for making such a good luxurious beauty out of the trolleys from aircrafts. They have bedazzled the trolleys with precious stones such as Swarovski crystals as well as 24 karat gold in order to make it worthy to be in the interior design of the rich hotel suits as well as be furniture to several remarkable mansions all over the globe.

Houses of famous designers did not also let the opportunity slide. There are designs of mansions made purely with parts of planes and some are even combinations of at least 2 worn down aircraft. Now that is a thing that you do not see every day. Luxury does not cost much if creative minds use old planes wisely.