• Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Despite the recent slow sales, Boeing still has a huge backlog of over 5,600 orders

    I wonder what those orders are? They could be mainly orders for extra bolts.

    • Hildegarde@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Those are orders for the 737. Not parts, newly constructed aircraft. Airbus’s similary sized A320 has a backlog of 7197 according to wikipedia.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        I know actually building a plane is hard, but this is crazy. They are bigger, but still not dissimilar from 60s aviation. I know that safety standards are strict (not for Boeing apparently though), but still - what, nobody else can satisfy the demand for passenger airplanes?

        Passenger planes being built mostly by Boeing and Airbus, consumer chips being produced mostly by TSMC, this is a very strange outcome really. As if the average human thought monopoly is good for them.

    • bulwark@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Boeing is the industry in the military-industrial-complex. Commercial jetliners are an ancillary product for them.

      • CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        No, their airlines are not an ancillary product. They are their main product. According to Boeing’s earnings reports, the commercial aircraft segment of the company made up 56% of total revenue in 2018, 42% in 2019, 27% in 2020, 30% in 2021, 38% in 2022, and 43% in 2023. The rest of their revenue is split between the Defense, Space and Security segment, and the Global Services segment.

        Prior to 2017, the vast majority of the earnings for the whole company came from the Commercial Airplanes segment. Since then, that segment has been operating at a loss. Since 2022, both Defense and Commercial Airplanes have been operating at a loss.

        If you’re curious you can look up Boeing’s 10-k form. Page 56 has the revenue breakdowns.