Feb. 20, 2025, \u00a9 Leeham News<\/strong>: Boeing hopes to certify its largest aircraft, the 777-9, late this year or early next year so that it can finally begin delivery of the 425-seat aircraft.<\/p>\nDelivery was originally supposed to be in December 2019 or the following quarter. However, technical delays, including those with the giant 115,000 lb thrust engines from GE Aerospace and the negative halo effect from the 737 MAX crisis, resulted in this unusually long delay.<\/p>\n
Kelly Ortberg, Boeing\u2019s CEO, reaffirmed the certification and delivery hopes during his first appearance since taking his job last August at an investment bank\u2019s investor conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going through the flight test program, and we\u2019re planning to get the certification done towards the end of this year or early next year so we can start the delivery,\u201d Ortberg told the Barclays Bank event today. \u201cThe challenge is we\u2019ve got to get through the certification here on the Dash 9 to start delivering these things to our customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just with Carson Spohr, the CEO of Lufthansa. He impressed upon me how critical that airplane is to his operating model,\u201d Ortberg said.<\/p>\n
The program is in a reach forward loss, so Ortberg said that any additional schedule delay with the program will likely result in another loss. Over the life of the program, he says it\u2019ll be a profitable airplane.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nCertification process<\/strong><\/h5>\nCertification of the 777X isn\u2019t the only airplane stalled in the process. The 737-7 and 737-10 also are years behind certification due to the crisis that erupted following two accidents in 2018-19 of the 737-8 that killed 346 people. The ensuing investigation revealed irregularities in the airplane certification between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration that still reverberates.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that I\u2019m going to focus on with\u2026the team this year is the certification process. We\u2019ve got the Dash 9, and then the two variants of the MAX that still have to get through certification, and a lot of change is going on with the FAA leadership,\u201d Ortberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to be very proactive. I\u2019m meeting with the [new] Transportation Secretary. We\u2019re going to get him out to Seattle. We\u2019ve got the new interim FAA administrator coming to Seattle to make sure we don\u2019t have any misalignment as we go through leadership changes there with the FAA. We have a pretty good plan on the rate increases. I don\u2019t anticipate the administration change is going to impact us in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning to higher production rates<\/strong><\/h5>\nThe FAA capped the 737 production rate at 38\/mo a year ago as Boeing worked through safety and quality control issues in the factory. But throughout 2023 and 2024, Boeing was stuck producing new 737s in the high teens or low 20s per month. Reasons included Boeing\u2019s internal problems and continuing external supply chain issues, especially with Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselages. Spirit\u2019s QC problems have diminished, and Boeing will assume ownership of the Spirit Boeing work later this year.<\/p>\n
Still, Ortberg is optimistic that the company will achieve a rate of 38 later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings look really, really good. The supply chain on 737 is in good shape. We don\u2019t have any supply chain constraints right now that I see that are going to stop us from ramping up here to the 38 a month. That\u2019s where we have the FAA cap that we\u2019ve got to get through this year,\u201d Ortberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur metrics are tracking really well to allow us to do that. But it\u2019s early innings, so we\u2019ve got to stay focused on this and stay disciplined. One of the things that I think we really are benefiting from, both in the supply chain and our own production work, is during the [53-day IAM] strike [last fall], \u00a0we didn\u2019t waste that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did go clean the inventory, get the production system cleaned out, and rebalanced. We\u2019ve just got to stay disciplined to make sure it stays that way as we ramp back up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
787 program<\/strong><\/h5>\nBoeing ended 2024 at a production rate of 5\/mo, a year behind schedule. Supply chain delays, notably on seats, and certification of business class interiors have been perpetually troubled spots.<\/p>\n
Ortberg said Boeing wants to increase this rate to 7-8\/mo, but some quality milestones must still be met first.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat creates some challenges for our customers because it\u2019s fewer airplanes than if we went faster,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s much more important that we deliberate here and do it the right way than try to go fast and let our production system get unstable again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortberg said there is a shortage of heat exchangers that go into the 787\u2019s engines, causing delivery delays. \u201cThat\u2019s an issue that came out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and we had to move production in our supply chain,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not exactly where we\u2019d want them to be, but they\u2019re making good progress to get there. I don\u2019t think the heat exchangers will be a problem for us to move from five to seven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seats continue to be a problem, but it\u2019s not production. \u201cIt\u2019s getting the seats certified. It\u2019s not the butt part of the seat. It\u2019s the cabinet and the doors for first class and business class,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are pretty complex systems, and getting those certified has taken both the seat suppliers and us longer than anticipated. If you were in Charleston [where the 787s are assembled], you\u2019d see we\u2019ve got completed airplanes that are held up for delivery for the seats, which obviously go in pretty late in the assembly process. That\u2019s something we\u2019re going to continue to work through, but it\u2019s generally only if it\u2019s a first-of-type seat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Scott Hamilton Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO. Credit: Boeing. Feb. 20, 2025, \u00a9 Leeham News: Boeing hopes to certify its largest aircraft, the 777-9, late this year or early next year so that it can finally begin delivery of the 425-seat aircraft. Delivery was originally supposed to be in December 2019 or the following quarter. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12027],"tags":[46523,8083,11297,12576,17895,7908,15469,11223,31242,29284],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-99719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airbus","tag-777x","tag-appearance","tag-banks","tag-boeing","tag-certification","tag-conference","tag-goal","tag-investors","tag-ortberg","tag-reaffirms"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Scott Hamilton Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO. Credit: Boeing. Feb. 20, 2025, \u00a9 Leeham News: Boeing hopes to certify its largest aircraft, the 777-9, late this year or early next year so that it can finally begin delivery of the 425-seat aircraft. Delivery was originally supposed to be in December 2019 or the following quarter. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank’s investors’ conference\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\"},\"wordCount\":1004,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"777X\",\"Appearance\",\"Banks\",\"Boeing\",\"Certification\",\"Conference\",\"Goal\",\"Investors\",\"Ortberg\",\"ReAffirms\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Airbus\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\",\"name\":\"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank’s investors’ conference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network","og_description":"By Scott Hamilton Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO. Credit: Boeing. Feb. 20, 2025, \u00a9 Leeham News: Boeing hopes to certify its largest aircraft, the 777-9, late this year or early next year so that it can finally begin delivery of the 425-seat aircraft. Delivery was originally supposed to be in December 2019 or the following quarter. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2400,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank’s investors’ conference","datePublished":"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719"},"wordCount":1004,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg","keywords":["777X","Appearance","Banks","Boeing","Certification","Conference","Goal","Investors","Ortberg","ReAffirms"],"articleSection":["Airbus"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719","name":"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank's investors' conference - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-20T15:57:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg","width":2400,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=99719#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ortberg reaffirms goal of Boeing 777X certification at first appearance at bank’s investors’ conference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/99721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99719"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=99719"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=99719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/leehamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Kelly-Ortberg-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n