The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has benefited since the start of the year from the resumption of deliveries of the 737 MAX, said Wednesday it returned to the green in the second quarter after losing money for six consecutive quarters.
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The group, which due to the Covid planned to reduce its total workforce to 130,000 employees at the end of 2021 against 160,000 at the start of 2020, has finally decided not to cut as many positions. It will remain at current job levels, at around 140,000 employees, said managing director Dave Calhoun in a message to employees. The group posted a net profit of 587 million dollars from April to June, against a loss of 2.4 billion dollars over the same period a year earlier, marked by the fall in air traffic.
Its revenue grew 44% to $ 17 billion.
Revenues are driven by the resumption of deliveries of the 737 MAX, grounded for twenty months following two fatal accidents before being gradually authorized to fly around the world since the end of 2020. Boeing has delivered 130 copies since.
Health situation closely monitored
However, Boeing's commercial aviation division remains in deficit.
The manufacturer must at the same time face the suspension of deliveries of the 787 after the discovery of manufacturing defects.
However, it is at the time of deliveries that customers pay most of their bill.
To make money, Boeing is relying on its Defense, Space and Security division, whose revenue grew 4% in the quarter, and its Customer Services division, whose revenue increased by 17%. %.
Adjusted per share and excluding one-time items, its profit rose to 40 cents, where analysts on the contrary expected a loss of 72 cents.
The title jumped 5.5% in electronic trading before the opening of the session on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Le Figaro
: "We will emerge stronger from the Covid crisis and the 737 Max"
The boss of Boeing welcomed in the press release the "
significant progress
" made by the group and "
the improvement of the environment for commercial aviation
": with the vaccination campaigns against the Covid-19, the traffic air has moved forward in recent months.
But, he stressed, "
we are closely monitoring the rates of Covid-19 cases, the distribution of vaccines and the state of world trade, which have become key indicators for the stability of the sector
".
