Boeing Starts 2020 Recording zero orders for its planes

Boeing posted a slow start to 2020, recording zero orders for new airplanes in the month of January.

The lack of orders last month stands in contrast to its competitor Airbus, which logged orders for 274 commercial airplanes in January.

January is the latest month without orders following the grounding of the 737 Max in March of 2019.

Boeing recorded a negative order rate in 2019 — for the first time in decades — as customers canceled or converted orders. In January, Boeing did not have any order cancellations.

Meanwhile, the company delivered 13 new airplanes in January, including six 787 Dreamliners, a pair of 777s, two 767s and three 737NGs.

With the company’s beleaguered 737 Max still grounded, Boeing did not deliver any Max models in January. The plane’s software was at the center of two fatal crashes that killed a combined 346 people.

Investors and industry insiders have grown accustomed to Boeing’s low rate of orders and deliveries since production of the 737 Max halted earlier this year. Boeing has said it expects the Max to be recertified and for regulators to lift the grounding of the Max by the middle of 2020.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Steve Dickson, has told executives with Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines that he is encouraged by the progress Boeing has made in fixing problems with the Max. On Tuesday at the Singapore Air Show, Dickson told reporters there could be a certification flight for the Max within weeks.

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