The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is still deep in the red. The most recent quarterly loss is $3,3 billion. This is also due to increased costs for tanker aircraft for US Air Force and Air Force One.

The armaments division is currently Boeing's biggest problem child. There are many expensive "construction sites" that will continue to burden the group for a long time. Company boss Dave Calhoun is confident and emphasizes the trust in his team. Turnarounds just take time, according to the Boeing CEO.

In the aftermath of the two 737 Max crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people, questionable operations by the group have come into the public spotlight. Since then, the company has had enormously high costs from which it will not be easy to recover. Since then, one series of problems has followed the other. In the civil sector, no Dreamliners were allowed to be delivered for a long period of time and the Max even received a worldwide flight ban, which has since been lifted. Many customers have made use of the crisis in which Boeing was stuck and negotiated particularly cheap prices for new aircraft.

In the quarter just ended, worldwide sales increased by four percent to around 16 billion US dollars. The otherwise lucrative defense division was down 20 percent to $5,3 billion. Increased costs for the tanker aircraft, for a new stealth bomber, but also for the new Air Force One have contributed significantly to this. The former Boeing boss Dennis Muilenburg had negotiated a fixed price with the then President Donald Trump, which is now having a massive disadvantage for the aircraft manufacturer. The costs have literally shot through the roof.

It is not entirely surprising, however, that the presidential plane is significantly more expensive than expected. As early as April 2022, the acting Boeing boss declared that a loss in the billions in connection with Air Force One was expected and that from today's perspective such a purchase contract would no longer be entered into. In the armaments division, the fact that they were also sold at fixed prices, but in the meantime the costs have risen massively, also has a disadvantageous effect.

In general, Boeing was only able to make a few positive announcements in the course of the announcement of the quarterly figures. This included, for example, Alaska Air ordering another 52 Boeing 737 Max. However, it will not be able to catch up with European archrival Airbus, to which it lost market leadership in 2019, in the short term. This will take a few more years, Boeing boss Calhoun suspects.