Boeing struggles to steer defence unit in another year of losses.....

Boeing's defence business is proving harder to turn around than executives initially predicted, with supplier errors and high manufacturing costs contributing to $1.7 billion in losses this year on programs like the next Air Force One and NASA's Starliner capsule, reports Valerie Insinna from Reuters.

Despite absorbing $4.4 billion in losses in 2022 – which executives said would lower the risk of future cost overruns – the unit has seen little improvement this year.  Excluding last year, losses on Boeing's defence programs in 2023 exceed those from all years since 2014, according to a Reuters review of Boeing’s regulatory filings.

Boeing is unique among its defence contractor peers, as companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and RTX are seeing higher revenues due to demand from the war in Ukraine.  Unlike those companies, however, Boeing is locked into a handful of contracts that force the planemaker to take a loss when technology development goes over budget. The defence unit's losses this year include $933 million in charges in the third quarter, mostly comprising a $ 482 million loss in building two Air Force One planes and a $315 million charge on an unidentified satellite program that had not previously lost money.

Boeing's executives said they are putting in place new training and deploying resources to suppliers to ensure the unit moves from negative margins to high-single-digit margins by 2025-2026, when its most troubled programs are slated to be past flight testing and on more stable footing.  

Lithuanian Airports passed a historic test - successfully hosting the World's leaders during NATO Summit

 

During the NATO Summit, the Vilnius Airport had become probably the most secure civilian airport in the world. The joint efforts of the specialists of the Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga Airports and a total of more than 1,000 professionals from various authorities and countries were aimed at ensuring the safe and smooth landing and take-off of more than 50 special aircraft as well as the reception and farewelling of several thousand important guests.

 

According to the calculations of Lithuanian Airports, during the peak of the aircraft traffic, planes (commercial and carrying delegations) took off and landed at the Vilnius Airport every 3–4 minutes.

 

The Kaunas Airport also received more aeroplanes than usual next to the regular commercial flight traffic. Here, the constant receipt and take-offs of delegation aircraft also took place. In addition, the airspace at the Kaunas Airport was not closed, therefore all processes took place continuously throughout the days of the Summit.

 

A significant number of the NATO Summit’s guest planes were large aircraft, categorized as codes E and F which usually visit our airports less often, such as “the flying presidential palaces” Air Force One carrying the President of the United States (and accompanying special aircraft) or an even larger Boeing 747-8I that flew the President of South Korea. At the Kaunas Airport, one of the most exclusive aircraft received was the Japanese delegation’s Boeing 777.

 

“During the active preparation for the event that lasted for more than half a year, every step and detail was carefully thought through, and many processes were aligned and coordinated to ensure the highest level of security and efficiency of the operations. The Vilnius Airport received all the scheduled aircraft, including even the largest ones. Not only that – commercial flights were also conducted in both Vilnius and Kaunas until the scheduled temporary closure of the airspace. No, having seen off the last delegations, we can state that no significant problems arose, and we passed this most important test through cooperation,” said Vidas Kšanas, Interim CEO at Lithuanian Airports.

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