Boeing on track for most plane deliveries in a year since 2018

Boeing delivered 55 planes to customers last month, putting it on track for its best year since 2018 as its production stabilizes and its executives consider increasing production rates of its cash cow 737 Max planes.

Forty of the deliveries were 737 Max aircraft, Boeing announced Tuesday, with European low-cost airline Ryanair among its customers, which took 10, as well as Southwest Airlines, United AirlinesChina Southern and leasing company AerCap.

In the first nine months of 2025, Boeing delivered 440 planes, up from 568 in the same period of 2018, before two fatal 737 Max crashes five months apart shook the company.

Rival Airbus has announced 507 deliveries to customers so far this year.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last month that the manufacturer expects the 737 Max production rate to reach 42 per month by the end of the year, an increase from the cap of 38 per month set by the Federal Aviation Administration after the near-catastrophic explosion of a door jam on a January 2024 flight.

“I think we’re pretty aligned,” Ortberg said of the approval process with the FAA at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in September. “We need to stabilize that final metric. And then we certainly still plan to produce at 42 per month by the end of the year.”

Boeing also reported net orders for 48 planes in September on Tuesday, or 96 gross sales before adjustments, including 64,787 Dreamliners, including 50 for Turkish Airlines and 30 737 for Norwegian Airlines.