Boeing is preparing 787 Dreamliners for delivery, the aerospace giant announced when reporting a drop in profits for the second quarter of 2022.
Boeing is awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to restart deliveries of the Dreamliner after they were halted in 2021 over manufacturing issues.
“On the 787 program, the company continues to work with the FAA to finalize actions to resume deliveries and is readying airplanes for delivery,” the company said in a results statement on July 27, 2022. “The program is producing at a very low rate and will continue to do so until deliveries resume, with an expected gradual return to five per month over time.”
Boeing said it still expects total one-off costs of approximately $2 billion due to the 787, with most set to be incurred by the end of 2023. It incurred costs of $283 million for the 787 in the second quarter
Overall, earnings per share fell to $0.32 from $1.00 one year previously, Boeing said, citing lower defense revenues and “unfavorable performance”. However, it recorded positive operating cash flow of $0.1 billion.
“We made important progress across key programs in the second quarter and are building momentum in our turnaround,” said Dave Calhoun, Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer. “As we begin to hit key milestones, we were able to generate positive operating cash flow this quarter and remain on track to achieve positive free cash flow for 2022.
Along with the 787 costs, Boeing also took a charge of $93 million on its Starliner program, which aims to transport crews to the International Space Station. While Boeing successfully carried out its Orbital Flight Test 2, Boeing said the charges were driven by launch manifest updates and additional costs associated with OFT-2.
In defense, second-quarter revenues decreased to $6.2 billion from $6.9 billion in 2021.
Boeing revealed that the MQ-25 unmanned aircraft system program recorded a $147 million charge mainly due to higher costs to meet certain technical requirements.