Boeing’s financial director Brian West said Wednesday that the company is concerned about the possible restriction of the tariffs of President Donald Trump to the availability of pieces of his suppliers, although he said that the American aircraft manufacturer has sufficient inventory for now.
West, who intervened at an industrial conference of the Bank of America, also indicated that the company expected a unique impact of 150 million dollars on its first quarter profits. The company’s general balance has been affected by the low deliveries of commercial airplanes and the cost overruns in the contracts at a fixed price of its defense and space division.
Boeing cash flow could improve in the first quarter in “hundreds of millions” of dollars, he said.
The price of the company’s shares rose 6% after West’s comments.
It is likely that tariffs do not reduce the demand for the company’s passenger aircraft, he said. Boeing has a request for more than 5,000 planes, most of which are 737.
The deliveries of the unique hallway plane in March should coincide with those of February, when it delivered 31 Max aircraft and a P-8 Poseidon for the US Navy, he said.
Until March 18, the company has delivered 13 aircraft 737, according to a note from Barclays.
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Boeing seeks strategies to avoid restrictions on the supply of pieces
The company continues to advance in the stabilization of the production of 737 and 787 Dreamliner, both affected by quality problems and in the supply chain, and is still on a way to increase the monthly production of the MAX this year, of approximately 25 to 38 aircraft, and that of the Dreamliner, from five to seven planes per month, according to West to investors.
The deliveries of his Military Cistern plane KC-46 were recently suspended by the US Air Force after cracks were discovered in parts of the wings of two planes that were waiting to be delivered. West said that Boeing is advancing in the resolution of the problem, that the deliveries of the year should not be affected and that the suspension will not assume a position in its benefits.
Boeing will not be significantly affected this year by a fire in an SPS Technologies plant, which manufactures between 10% and 15% of the fasteners for the aerospace industry, he said, and added that the company is evaluating the impact on its suppliers.
The company is trying to determine how to avoid long -term restrictions in the supply of fasteners, he added.
In the last two weeks, Boeing went to the next stage of flight tests of its 777x, which resumed in January after a five -month pause, he explained.
The company has affirmed that it hopes to start the deliveries of 777-9, long delayed, next year, followed by 777-8, smaller, and a load version later in the decade.
The development of a new plane is “very far,” West said.
Boeing is buying two subsidiaries: its Jeppesen navigation unit and the Drones Company Insitu. However, Boeing’s divestment strategy focuses on the reduction of personnel, not on the company’s restructuring, he added.
It does not plan to sell Wisk Aero, a company that develops autonomous air taxis, he said.
The technology developed by Wisk will be key to the future of the autonomous and valuable flight for the rest of the Boeing business, he added. “It’s small, it’s important and we’ll continue with her.”
With Reuters information
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