Fitch downgrades Boeing's outlook to 'negative' on production, cashflow challenges

[April 27, 2024]  Fitch Ratings downgraded outlook on Boeing to "negative" from "stable" on Friday, amid a fallout from safety crisis impacting the U.S. planemaker's production and cashflow.

A Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner taxis past the Final Assembly Building at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo

The ratings agency, which reaffirmed its "BBB-" long-term issuer default rating, said it could stabilize the outlook if Boeing liquidates over 100 of its pre-2023 built 737 MAX and half of its 787 inventories by early 2025, along with increasing production of its MAX jets towards 38 per month.

Fitch's downgrade follows similar moves by S&P and Moody's earlier in the week on its bumpy cashflow.

Boeing has been under heavy regulatory scrutiny and lowered production of its 787 widebody jets, along with 737 MAX, after the cabin panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX 9 flight mid-air, forcing an emergency landing.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes and Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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