CHICAGO: Boeing delivered some 69 737 planes in December and set a new annual record of 806 deliveries in 2018, surpassing its previous record of 763 deliveries in 2017.
Even as Boeing delivered more jets, the company again grew its significant order book with 893 net orders, including 203 plane sales in December.
“Boeing raised the bar again in 2018 thanks to our teammates’ incredible focus on meeting customer commitments, and continuously improving quality and productivity,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes president, Kevin McAllister.
“In a dynamic year, our production discipline and our supplier partners helped us build and deliver more airplanes than ever before to satisfy the strong demand for air travel across the globe.”
With a seven-year order backlog, Boeing increased production of the popular 737 in the middle of 2018 to 52 planes per month.
Nearly half of the year’s 580 737 deliveries were from the more fuel-efficient and longer-range MAX family, including the first MAX 9 planes.
At the same time, Boeing continued to build the 787 Dreamliner at the highest production rate for twin-aisle planes to support high demand for the super-efficient jet.
The Dreamliner program finished with 145 deliveries for the year.
Deliveries of various 777, 767 and 747-8 models rounded out the total of 806 planes for the year.
On the orders front, Boeing achieved sales success across its plane portfolio with 893 net orders valued at $143.7 billion according to list prices.
While growing the order backlog for nearly every program, the company showed particular strength in the twin-aisle category with 218 widebody orders last year.
