Boeing posts $428 million loss as Air Force One overruns add $280 million in Q2

Air Force One programme sinks deeper

The two modified Boeing 747-8 aircraft destined to serve as the next Air Force One are now four years behind schedule and more than a billion dollars over the $3.9 billion fixed-price contract signed in 2018. In the April-to-June period alone, Boeing absorbed an additional $280 million in costs, driven by higher spending on production and certification resources for the VC-25B programme. The original delivery target of late 2024 has been abandoned; the company now says the first aircraft will arrive in mid-2028 and the second the following year. Because the deal was struck at a fixed price during Donald Trump's first term, Boeing has had to eat every overrun as the years drag on.

We continue to move in the right direction and delivered another solid quarter for our company.

Presidential travel scramble

The delays have forced the White House to improvise. Trump is using a 747-8 gifted by the Qatari royal family as an interim transport, but the arrangement has limits. After the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month, the Secret Service urged the president to fly back on the old Air Force One instead of the Qatari jet. US media reports cited indications of a potential Iranian attack on Trump's aircraft. Earlier, Trump had pushed to retrofit the Qatari plane as a temporary replacement, an effort that the New York Times reported has brought ballooning costs and safety trade-offs of its own.

Commercial business regains speed

Beneath the presidential-jet headache, Boeing's core business is accelerating. Revenue climbed 8% year on year to $24.56 billion in the second quarter, lifted by higher deliveries across commercial and defence segments. The company handed over 171 aircraft in the quarter, up from 150 a year earlier, bringing first-half deliveries to 314, a 12% increase and the best six-month figure in six years. The 737 MAX programme is scaling toward a monthly cadence of 47 units, and a fourth production line opened this month. Boeing's order backlog hit a record $715.26 billion, with more than 6,200 commercial aircraft waiting to be built.

Cash turns positive

One milestone stood out for a company that has burned cash for years. Free cash flow reached $631 million in the quarter, reversing a $200 million outflow a year earlier, thanks in part to higher customer advance payments. Boeing reaffirmed its full-year free cash flow target of $1 billion to $3 billion, which would mark the first positive annual figure since 2023. Adjusted loss per share came to 76 cents, narrower than the $1.24 loss a year ago but still more than twice the 30-cent loss analysts had forecast.

Regulatory trust rebuilds

The turnaround effort extends to the factory floor and the regulator's confidence. The Federal Aviation Administration this month restored Boeing's authority to self-certify its 737 MAX and 787 aircraft, privileges revoked after the 2018 and 2019 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, and again after a door panel blew out mid-flight in early 2024. The FAA said the decision followed "months of thorough data and safety review demonstrating consistent production quality." CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over two years ago when the company was under intense pressure over safety lapses, described the quarter as further evidence the firm is on the right track.