Boeing (BA -1.68%) today announced in its third-quarter earnings report that it would increase 787 Dreamliner production from 10 per month to 12 per month by 2016. The aerospace giant further intends to increase 787 production to 14 per month by the end of the decade.
The company has orders for 890 of those planes that it has yet to build.
Boeing's newest version of the plane, the 787-10, which seats up to 330 passengers, was launched in June, and the company anticipates the first delivery in 2018. The 787-9, a slightly smaller version of the plane, rolled off the assembly line in May of this year, and its first flight was on Sept. 17. The first delivery of the plane is scheduled to be completed in the middle of 2014. The 787-8, which seats 210-250 passengers, was launched in April 2004 and had its first flight in December 2009. Dreamliners were grounded for four months earlier this year over battery problems.
In the nine months ended Sept. 30, Boeing reported 40 deliveries of 787s, up from 23 in the year-ago period.
The 787 production announcement comes less than one week after Boeing announced it would cut 747 production from 1.75 planes per month to 1.5 planes due to lower demand. That announcement was the second declared reduction in 747 production in 2013. In April, the company said it would cut production from two to 1.75 planes per month.
Boeing increased its commercial airplane deliveries by 14% in the last year, from 149 in the third quarter of 2012 to 170 in the most recent quarter (of which 23 were 787s and four were 747s). In total, its commercial airplanes business saw earnings from operations increase by 40%, or $460 million over the past year.
Boeing reported today that Q3 earnings for the company were up 12% to $1.51 per share.
-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
