Boeing’s announcement on Tuesday that it plans to shore up its finances with up to $35bn in new funding is the latest response to a crisis that has engulfed the US plane maker over the past five years.
Fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and January’s mid-flight blowout of a door panel on one of its planes, had already severely stretched the company’s finances.
Boeing, which last reported a profit in 2018 and has consolidated debt close to $58bn, is burning through an estimated $1bn a month as a strike by its largest labour union has halted production at its main factories in Washington state since last month.