The delay in the certification process for Boeing’s 777X aircraft has led to a steady increase in the number of orders received and not fulfilled for the aircraft type. The delay was influenced by the 2024 Boeing workers’ strike and a mechanical failure on one of the four test aircraft. A look at Boeing’s 2024 annual financial report shows that Boeing ended the year with 464 orders for Boeing 777 aircraft in arrears, including the 777 Freighter and 777X.
Following the above figures, Boeing recently updated the number of aircraft on order to 426, after removing 38 777X aircraft from the order book. The 38 contracted orders are marked by doubts about their realization based on one of the following potential factors: the financial condition of the customer, or the client, geopolitical events, delivery delays and interruptions in the production chain, and the like. Boeing records such orders, the fulfillment of which is in doubt, in an alternative accounting segment called “ASC 606”.
Certification test flights resumed in January 2025, and time will tell whether deliveries of the first 777X aircraft will be possible in 2026, as currently planned. The first 777X should be delivered to Lufthansa, the first orderer and customer of the aircraft type.
