Comment on Boeing airplane orders plunge to a 16-year low

CHICAGO – Boeing orders and deliveries of new jetliners plunged last year as the company struggled with the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max, which had been its best-selling plane. Gross orders fell to their lowest mark in 16 years, and that tells only part of the story. Boeing reported more cancellations than new orders in 2019, in large part because a major order from India’s Jet Airways almost certainly vanished when the airline went bankrupt. The Chicago company said Tuesday that it booked 246 gross orders, the lowest total since 2003, but after cancellations the number of net orders was just 54. And after subtracting other orders that are too doubtful to stay in Boeing’s backlog – the Jet Airways deal – the company suffered a net loss of 87 orders last year. Deliveries also tumbled, falling 53% from 806 planes in 2018 to 380 last year.