United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landing at London Heathrow International Airport in England, UK.
Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Boeing’s aircraft sales in March surpassed cancellations for the second month in a row, while some airlines are focusing on recovering the industry from the Covid-19 travel tax.
The manufacturer reported gross orders on Tuesday for nearly 200 of the best-selling 737 Max aircraft, including a sale of 100 aircraft to Southwest Airlines. Accounting for cancellations, conversions and other changes to orders, it recorded positive net orders for 40 aircraft.
Boeing’s delay book stood at 4,054 planes at the end of last month, compared to 4,041 at the end of February.
Deliveries in March totaled 29 aircraft, including two 787 Dreamliners for United Airlines. Boeing resumed handing over Dreamliners products to customers at the end of last month, a process it stopped last year after detecting production problems.
That exceeded 22 deliveries in March and welcome news for the aerospace giant. Most of the price of an aircraft is paid on delivery, and the company is still struggling with the impact of the pandemic on aircraft demand and the 20-month grounding of the best-selling 737 Max aircraft.
Last week, airlines temporarily blocked more than 60 Max planes after Boeing reported a manufacturing problem that could impact a backup power supply unit.