Boeing posted $24.6 billion in second-quarter revenue, an 8% jump from a year earlier, as the planemaker pushes production past levels last seen before the 737 Max crisis. The gain came across all three segments, driven by higher commercial deliveries and defense volumes, and lifted first-half revenue to roughly $47 billion, 11% above the same period in 2025. Chief Financial Officer Jesus Malave told analysts the company now expects to finish the year cash-flow positive to the tune of $1 billion to $3 billion, a marked shift from the burn that defined the post-door-plug era.
The 737 cap and the path to 57
The Federal Aviation Administration still limits the 737 line to 38 aircraft a month, a ceiling imposed after a door plug blew out midair in January 2024. Boeing’s factory capacity, however, has quietly climbed to 47 a month, and a new line that opened this month in Everett, Washington, is designed to push that to 52. The stated ambition is 57. Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said teams have returned output to rates not seen since 2018, and the company is targeting 500 737 deliveries for the full year. Whether the FAA lifts the cap before the factory hits its own ceiling remains the single variable that matters most.
Dreamliner engines and the Mesa bet
The 787 program carries its own bottleneck. Boeing wants to raise the monthly rate from eight to ten by year-end to hit 90 to 100 deliveries, but a GE Aerospace engine shortage idled the Charleston plant for several days in April. GE has incorporated a design change and expects to resume deliveries in the third quarter; Ortberg called the recovery “important for our rate 10 timing.” Meanwhile, Boeing is doubling down on defense. A $4.7 billion Army contract for Apache AH-64E helicopters and trainers, awarded in November 2025, anchors a 263,386-square-foot fabrication facility approved by Mesa, Arizona, planners on July 22. The campus will also double its central utility plant. No investment figure was disclosed, but the groundbreaking on a separate $1 billion expansion signals the company is spending ahead of the revenue curve.
Cash flow and what comes next
Second-quarter free cash flow came in at $631 million, well above the “low hundreds of millions” Malave had guided for in April, helped by favorable receipt timing. That cushion will be tested as capital expenditures climb on the Everett line, the Mesa campus, and the 787 rate climb. The recovery narrative is no longer theoretical, the numbers are printing, but the next leg depends on regulators, a single engine supplier, and a supply chain that has already cracked once this year.