A Boeing 737 aircraft fuselage is pictured at the company’s Renton factory in Renton, Washington, on April 15, 2025.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Boeing is preparing to ask for Federal Aviation Administration approval to ramp up production of its best-selling 737 Max jets to 42 a month this year, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday, as airplane deliveries picked up this year and the company narrowed its losses.
Boeing reported a first-quarter net loss of $31 million, improvement from a loss of $355 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 18% to $19.5 billion, slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates.
The company’s cash burn of about $2.3 billion was an improvement over the nearly $4 billion it used in the first quarter of 2024, and was better than analysts expected.
The results include only the impact of global tariffs as of March 31, the company said. Executives will get questions on Wednesday’s 10:30 a.m. ET earnings call about tariffs as the manufacturer is currently caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s trade war, which is set to drive up prices of aircraft and imported parts and materials.
Here’s how the company performed compared with what Wall Street analysts surveyed by LSEG expected for Boeing’s first quarter:
- Loss per share: 49 cents adjusted vs. $1.29 loss expected
- Revenue: $19.5 billion vs. $19.45 billion expected
On a per-share basis, the company reported a loss of 16 cents, compared with a loss of 56 cents during the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items related to pensions costs and income taxes, among others, Boeing reported a loss of 49 cents per share.
Ortberg, who was hired last year and tasked with getting the manufacturer past a series of safety and manufacturing crises, outlined progress, including production rates of its best-selling 737 Max.
The CEO has in recent months touted improved safety and manufacturing processes at Boeing’s factories as he tries to guide the company past several accidents, including a door plug that blew out from a packed flight midair in January 2024 after the 737 Max left Boeing’s factory without key bolts installed. There were no fatalities or major injuries.
Since that accident, Boeing must receive approval from the FAA to increase production of the 737 Max to above 38 jets a month. Boeing had been producing significantly below that level after the January 2024 accident and a nearly two-month union strike last year halted much of the company’s production.
Revenue in Boeing’s commercial airplane unit rose 75% during the first quarter from a year ago to $8.1 billion, with deliveries up to 130 planes from 83 a year ago.
“We are moving in the right direction and making progress as we reported our first-quarter 2025 results today,” Ortberg said in a staff memo Wednesday. “From delivering more airplanes to scoring a transformational win for the fighter of the future, there is a lot of good work happening across our teams, and we are seeing positive results in the four key areas of our recovery plan that will position us for the rest of the year and beyond.”
Revenue in its defense unit, which has been plagued with cost-overruns and quality issues, fell 9% during the first quarter to $6.3 billion, though the company recently scored a major win after Trump awarded Boeing a contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s all-new fighter jet, dubbed the F-47.
Boeing has been refocusing its efforts on its core businesses. On Tuesday, it announced it would sell parts of its digital aviation businesses, including its Jeppesen navigation unit, to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion in an all-cash deal.
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