Boeing delivered only 32 737 MAX aircraft in October, marking its lowest monthly figure since November 2025. The October delivery chart indicates a significant slowdown on the production line compared to 43 aircraft delivered in September, 41 in August, and 39 in July.
The manufacturer reached its highest MAX delivery figure this year in May with 51 aircraft; however, it remained at 33 and 34 aircraft in March and April, respectively, due to a production issue causing scratches on wiring. Boeing executives state that the company will miss its target of 500 737 MAX deliveries this year as they struggle to stabilize the production rate at 47 aircraft per month.
Production Slowdown Also Affects Workforce
In a statement to investors, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg expressed that the plan to increase monthly MAX production from 42 to 47 is taking longer than expected. Ortberg emphasized that the wing production facility in Renton, in particular, has not been able to keep up with the increased pace, and the monthly production will not be raised to 52 aircraft until mid-2027.
This slowdown in production plans has brought about employment cuts in the commercial airplanes division. In a briefing to employees, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope announced that the decline in aircraft output has left the company overstaffed, stating that the workforce in the commercial aircraft division will be reduced by approximately 5 percent.
Wide-Body Deliveries and Competition with Airbus
Despite the monthly decline in October, the total of 395 MAX deliveries in the first 10 months of the year is above the 364 aircraft delivered during the same period last year. Deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner, produced in South Carolina, gained momentum in October and reached 11 aircraft. Having delivered 73 787s in the first 10 months of the year, the manufacturer plans to bring this figure to between 90 and 100 by the end of the year. In October, the company also delivered one 737 NG and one 767 to its defense division, as well as two 777Fs and two 767s to the cargo giant UPS.
Delivering a total of 49 commercial aircraft in October, Boeing fell behind its European rival Airbus, which closed the month with 74 deliveries. In total deliveries for the first 10 months, Airbus reached 621 aircraft, while Boeing recorded a performance of 524 aircraft.
Order Book Strengthens
On the order front, the company closed the month with a strong performance. Boeing received a total of 165 gross orders in October, including an order for 140 737 MAX 10s from the aircraft leasing company Avolon. Following a month without any order cancellations, the total number of orders for the MAX 10 model, whose certification process was recently completed, approached the 1,700 mark. Reaching 851 net orders in the first 10 months of the year, Boeing’s commercial aircraft order backlog rose to 6,457 as of the end of October.
