Boeing (NYSE: BA) suffered a brutal one-two punch over the past two years: The 737 MAX grounding and the COVID-19 pandemic together caused it to burn tens of billions of dollars of cash while eroding its order backlog.
While Boeing expects to continue burning cash throughout 2021, it has started to stabilize its 737 MAX backlog, with plenty of help from two key customers: Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY) . Moreover, both airlines have indicated that they will probably order even more 737 MAX jets before too long.
Additional orders from these two low-cost titans would certainly be helpful. However, Boeing needs many more 737 MAX orders from a much broader base of airline customers to get the 737 program back to health.
For further details see:
Can Southwest Airlines and Ryanair Save the Boeing 737 MAX?