Boeing Q1 Financial Report Shows Income Up Despite Dreamliner Woes

Boeing has revealed its financial data for the first quarter of this year, showing an increase in profits despite problems with its grounded 787 Dreamliner. Net income hit $1.1 billion, up a fair amount from $923 million in 2012. Revenue, however, dipped 2.5-percent to $18.9 billion, largely in part due to the Dreamliner problem, something Reuters says investors have most ignored because of the way it was handled. After revealing the quarterly earnings, shares rose 3.4-percent.

Back in January, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner was grounded following an overheating incident involving batteries on two of the planes. Says Reuters, some analysts were expecting Boeing to peg the financial cost of this problem, which it didn't do, instead saying that most of it was reflected in the Q1 numbers. According to Boeing's CFO Greg Smith, the financial burden that resulted was mostly neutralized via resource shifting.

On April 19, we reported that the FAA had approved Boeing's battery design changes with plans to lift its flight ban following the publication of instructions to operators over the changes. The changes required to the battery design include installing "containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries," as well as replacing the chargers and batteries.

Jim McNerney, Boeing's CEO, said during the conference call that the company anticipates resuming Dreamliner deliveries early next month, with the modifications to 50 customer jets wrapping up by the middle of the month. He is quoted as saying that the battery modifications needed are "not big" compared to what they could be.

[via Reuters]