Boeing CEO says company must shore up finances before launching new plane

FAA nearing MAX 7 approval as Boeing prioritizes delivery over orders

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company has begun work on a new airplane design but is focused first on delivering products that are years behind schedule. Speaking ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow outside London, Ortberg said getting Boeing’s finances in order will take another couple of years and that airlines are not yet clamoring for a new design.

Ortberg said the company is spending “time and money” preparing to introduce a new design at the right time. “Certainly, getting our financial house in order is a part of our being ready. That’s going to take another couple years,” Ortberg said. He said Boeing does not have a firm configuration for the new plane and is still “evaluating trade studies.” “We’re evaluating trade studies. You create a baseline and you evaluate things against the baseline, and then you change,” he said.

Rather than announcing new orders at the air show — where manufacturers typically feature their deals — Ortberg said Boeing was focused on delivering existing models. “Orders are not our challenge. Our challenge is getting these orders delivered,” he said. Boeing is working to deliver the 777X wide-body, which Ortberg chose to keep in the U.S. rather than performing demonstration flights at the air show while it awaits FAA safety certification.

Ortberg said the FAA is close to giving Boeing’s 737 MAX 7 final approval as soon as late July, calling the certification “clock-ticking soon.” He expects the larger MAX 10 to follow “not very long after that,” noting the MAX 10 recently had two flight tests left before final paperwork can be completed.

Ortberg described Boeing needing to make more progress from the production floor to its balance sheet. The company wants work instructions easier for production-line employees to follow, and mechanics at the new 737 line in Everett, Wash., must first train at similar lines further south. “Traveled work” — an industry term for flaws made on a manufacturing line that must be fixed further along — is another challenge. “We put a much more disciplined approach in eliminating or reducing traveled work, not moving the airplane if it adds any kind of a safety or quality risk,” Ortberg said.

Nearly two years into his tenure as CEO, Ortberg has been working to steady the prominent American manufacturer after a series of safety and quality crises. Ortberg’s job has been more akin to head mechanic than chief salesman as he works to fix frayed relationships with regulators, customers and even the White House, the Journal reported. Ortberg, a former chief of supplier Collins Aerospace until its takeover by RTX, said he is taking more time to hear workers’ feedback in person before problems come to a boil.

Ortberg acknowledged that Boeing was “distant from our employees” during the 2024 strike that halted Seattle-area 737 production for nearly two months. “We thought we knew what they wanted, and it turned out we didn’t. We’ve done a lot to learn from that,” he said. Dissatisfaction with the company’s contract offers for union employees in 2024 partly drove the strike.

Ortberg made a point of moving to the Seattle area where most Boeing planes are still made, though the CEO said he has spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C., near the company’s official headquarters. The CEO has also joined Trump administration officials on U.S. trade missions.

Ortberg described the president as helpful to the aerospace industry. “He’s been very helpful on the global campaigns where nations have a trade imbalance with the U.S. There’s no question that if they want to address that trade imbalance, buying aircraft is a pretty big purchase,” Ortberg said.

Boeing is adding more workers and shifts at the plant manufacturing the next-generation Air Force Ones. The Air Force has said the first of two new presidential jets will be delivered in 2028.