Boeing's Back! Is This the End of the Turbulence?

Houston We Have a... Maybe Not a Problem?

Alright folks Bill here. Seems like Boeing is trying to pull a Windows 95 and reboot after a few shall we say 'unexpected shutdowns.' CEO Kelly Ortberg is saying they're aiming to get the FAA to sign off on boosting 737 Max production to 42 a month. Forty two! That's almost as many lines of code as it took to run Solitaire back in the day. Seriously though the numbers are looking less disastrous. Revenue is up losses are down and the cash burn is... well still burning but at least it's a smaller bonfire than last year. I once said that 'success is a lousy teacher.' Hopefully Boeing learned a thing or two from their recent 'lessons'.

Trade Wars: The Empire Strikes Back... at Boeing?

Ah tariffs. The digital equivalent of Clippy popping up to ask if you need help writing a strongly worded letter. Boeing's caught in the middle of the trade skirmishes and it's going to cost them. GE's CEO Larry Culp is trying to sweet talk Trump into restoring duty free trade. Good luck with that! Meanwhile Boeing's got this half trillion dollar backlog which Ortberg claims gives them the 'flexibility' to navigate the mess. Flexibility is good but you know what's better? Avoiding the mess in the first place. Maybe they should try running Windows on those planes; at least it would crash predictably.

By the Numbers: Better Than Expected But Still Not Great

Analysts were bracing for impact but Boeing managed to soften the blow. Loss per share was better than expected and revenue edged out projections. Still let's not break out the champagne just yet. We're talking about losses here people. As I always say 'Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.' And Boeing’s been getting a lot of 'learning' lately.

Ortberg's Odyssey: From Crisis to... Recovery?

Ortberg's got a heck of a job on his hands. He's trying to steer this behemoth of a company past a series of self inflicted wounds. Remember that door plug incident? Key bolts missing? That’s like shipping Windows without the Start button! He's talking about improved safety and manufacturing processes which is great but talk is cheap. Let's see some real results. He needs to instill a culture of quality. As the saying goes quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.

Employee Morale: Lower Than a Blue Screen of Death?

Ouch. Only 27% of employees would highly recommend working at Boeing? That's worse than the approval ratings for Internet Explorer back in the day! And confidence in senior leadership is... lacking. Seems like there's a serious trust deficit. Ortberg needs to rally the troops. You can't build great planes if your own team doesn't believe in you. He needs to fix the culture or he risks building another Vista!

Refocusing and Regrouping: Selling Off Assets to Stay Afloat?

Selling parts of the digital aviation business including Jeppesen? Sounds like they're trying to streamline operations and focus on their core competencies. It's like uninstalling all those bloatware programs that came pre loaded on your new PC. And they landed a big contract for the Air Force's new fighter jet the F 47. Maybe that'll help boost morale. Though frankly fixing their planes might be a higher priority than building new ones.