Boeing's commercial plane deliveries dropped by two-thirds in the third-quarter as the lengthy grounding of its top-selling 737 MAX continues to dent results, the company said Tuesday.
The aerospace giant delivered 63 aircraft in its commercial program in the three months ending September 30, down from 190 in the year-ago period, Boeing said in a statement.
The figures are the latest demonstration of the hit to the company's finances and prospects because of the MAX, which was taken out of service in mid-March following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people.
The benchmark is closely monitored by Wall Street as a sign of profitability because plane deliveries are closely tied to revenues. Analysts are projecting much lower 2019 profits for Boeing following a big drop in sales.
The grounding of the MAX prompted Boeing to trim its production of the plane and has forced it to store hundreds of new aircraft that cannot be delivered until the Federal Aviation Administration and international civil aviation regulators clear it for service.
Boeing delivered just five 737 planes during the latest quarter, down from 138 in the 2018 period. Most of the Boeing's other planes did not experience big swings.
For example, Boeing produced 35 of its 787 Dreamliner planes during the quarter, compared with 34 in the year-ago period.