Boeing said on Tuesday it sold 145 aircraft in the first three months of the year, after accounting for canceled orders, as airlines around the world begin to lay the groundwork for a wider post-pandemic recovery.
Nearly all orders were for the 737 Max, which had regained its place as the star of Boeing’s commercial fleet after emerging from a protracted crisis more than a year ago. The plane’s two crashes killed 346 people and led to the global ban of Max for nearly two years until late 2020. Most of the 95 aircraft Boeing delivered in the first quarter of the year were also Max.
Boeing posted 14 consecutive months of net new sales as the recovery in travel accelerates.
“As governments around the world lift travel restrictions, the recovery in air travel is gaining momentum,” said Willie Walsh, executive director of the International Air Transport Association, a trade group. at a press conference last week.
But threats to recovery remain. The spread of BA.2, a sub-variant of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, could disrupt travel recovery. Long discussions with regulators over quality concerns about the 787 Dreamliner, a double-aisle aircraft, have forced Boeing to cut production and suspend deliveries of the aircraft.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine also caused disruptions for Boeing, which temporarily closed an office in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and stopped purchasing titanium from Russia, a major source of the element. Boeing also removed 141 aircraft from its waiting list in March, citing about two-thirds of the fallout from geopolitical events, including this conflict.