By John N. Simon
Boeing (BA) released its commercial deliveries and (lack thereof) orders information for the six-month period ended June 30, 2009.
During the first half of 2009, Boeing delivered 246 aircraft, consisting of 190 737s, 6 747s, 6 767s and 44 777s; for the same period last year, the Company delivered 241 aircraft, consisting of 187 737s, 9 747s, 6 767s and 39 777s. Renton 
accounted for 77.2% of the deliveries this year versus 77.6% last year; the balance came from Everett.
Gross orders this year totaled 85 aircraft, consisting of 60 737s 2 767s, 10 777s and 13 787s; however, if you subtract the cancellation of orders placed in prior periods to arrive at the net orders, that number was one - uno - eins - as airlines cancelled 3 737s, 1 747, 5 767s 2 777s and 73 787s. During 2008, Boeing averaged 331 net commercial aircraft orders per each half-year. The difference is staggering! This just might turn out to be the worst year for orders...ever!
Just for the heck of it, here are Boeing’s net orders for the last five years: 2003 = 239; 2004 = 272; 2005 = 1,022; 2006 = 1,044; 2007 = 1,413; 2008 = 662. The cyclicality of this industry is very obvious: for every over-reaction, there is an equal and opposite over-reaction. Oh, the pain of it all!
