 "Boeing posts first profit in about 2 years, propelled by 737 MAX deliveries")
Boeing Co on Wednesday posted its first quarterly profit in almost two years, as deliveries of its best-selling 737 MAX jets to airlines gained traction amid a sharp rebound in travel bookings following an increase in global COVID-19 vaccinations.
The 737 MAX is integral to Boeing's financial recovery, as the U.S. planemaker scrambles to recoup billions of dollars in lost sales from the pandemic, and deals with production-related structural defects of its bigger, more profitable 787 planes.
Boeing shares were up 3.8% in premarket trading following the results.
Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun said the company now plans to keep staffing levels stable at around 140,000 employees, after previously targeting a reduction to 130,000 by the end of 2021.
"While our commercial market environment is improving, we're closely monitoring COVID-19 case rates, vaccine distribution and global trade as key indicators for our industry's stability," Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in remarks accompanying results.
While he sounded a note of optimism, Boeing's recovery has been hobbled by low levels of international travel and tensions between Washington and Beijing.
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It is also grappling with costly repairs and forensic inspections due to production-related structural defects on its 787 program. It said earlier this month it would cut 787 production after finding a new issue, first reported by Reuters, and would deliver fewer than half of the lingering 100 or so 787 Dreamliners in its inventory this year - instead of the "vast majority" it had expected.
Boeing said it is building 16 737 MAX jets per month at its Seattle-area factory. The company has said it would lift the jet's output to 31 a month by early 2022.
Boeing's core operating profit was $755 million in the second quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $3.32 billion a year earlier.
Revenue rose 44% to about $17 billion.
Analysts had on average expected Boeing to report a quarterly loss of $454.8 million on revenue of $16.54 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and David Holmes)
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