Skip to content 
Picture this: You’ve just landed the “dream job” of running one of America’s most iconic companies. The pay is spectacular. The catch? The company is Boeing, and it’s 2024. Welcome to Kelly Ortberg’s nightmare.
When Ortberg took the helm of Boeing on August 8, 2024, he inherited what might be the most challenging turnaround in corporate America. Fast forward to June 2025, and the aviation giant faces yet another crisis – a devastating Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in India that killed 241 people, with only one survivor. It’s a sobering reminder that for Boeing, the stakes aren’t just financial – they’re literally life and death.
The Man Who Said Yes to Mission Impossible
Kelly Ortberg isn’t your typical aerospace CEO parachuted in from Wall Street. With over 35 years in the industry, he’s an engineer’s engineer who understands both the technical complexities of aircraft manufacturing and the brutal realities of aviation safety. His decision to relocate to Seattle – closer to Boeing’s manufacturing heartland –seems to have sent a clear signal: this wasn’t going to be leadership by spreadsheet from a distant boardroom.
But what exactly did Ortberg sign up for? Boeing in 2024 was a company caught in a storm of crises that would test even the most seasoned executive.
The Inheritance: A Company in Free Fall
When Ortberg stepped into the CEO office, Boeing’s reputation was already in tatters. The 737 MAX disasters had seemed to shattered public trust, production delays plagued multiple aircraft programs, and the company had burned through billions in cash. The numbers tell a brutal story: Boeing’s six-year sequence of financial strife continued in 2024 with an $11.8 billion loss, bringing the airframer’s total losses since 2019 and the grounding of the 737 Max to $36 billion.
To put this in perspective, Boeing annual revenue for 2024 was $66.517B, a 14.5% decline from 2023. The company that once generated consistent profits was now hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate. Cash burn was $14.3 billion in 2024, compared with a cash flow of $4.43 billion in 2023 – a staggering $18.7 billion negative swing in just one year.
The quarterly results under Ortberg’s tenure painted an equally grim picture. Fourth Quarter 2024 revenue of $15.2 billion, GAAP loss per share of ($5.46) and core (non-GAAP) loss per share of ($5.90), while Third Quarter 2024 revenue of $17.8 billion, GAAP loss per share of ($9.97) and core (non-GAAP) loss per share of ($10.44). Even the most recent quarter showed operating cash flow of ($1.6) billion and free cash flow of ($2.3) billion.
Boeing wasn’t just facing a financial crisis – it was experiencing an existential one. Customers were losing faith, regulators were breathing down their necks, and every day seemed to bring fresh headlines about quality control failures and safety lapses.
The Cost of Crisis: More Than Just Numbers
The financial devastation extends beyond the headline-grabbing losses. Boeing has had to raise massive amounts of capital just to stay afloat. The company tapped debt markets to raise $10 billion in April 2024, with plans to raise as much as $25 billion over three years to shore up its balance sheet. These aren’t growth investments – they’re measures for a company drowning in red ink.
The effects on human lives have been no less profound.Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its total staff “over the coming months” – approximately 17,000 jobs globally. This isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about a company that employed nearly 170,000 people having to shrink dramatically to turn things around. The layoffs started in earnest in November 2024, with US staff receiving notices but staying on payroll until January 2025.
Despite maintaining a substantial backlog – the total company backlog grew to $545 billion, including over 5,600 commercial airplanes – Boeing’s inability to efficiently convert these orders into delivered aircraft and positive cash flow remains its Achilles’ heel. Orders on paper mean nothing if you can’t build and deliver planes profitably.
The Philosophy: Quality Over Quantity
Faced with these financial troubles, Ortberg’s first major test came quickly. Rather than rushing to ramp up production to generate needed cash flow, he made a counterintuitive decision that would define his leadership approach. “Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced that the company won’t increase production yet, focusing on resolving current issues first.” In an industry obsessed with delivery targets and production schedules, this was tantamount to heresy.
The financial pressure to reverse course was probably immense. With cash burn of $14.3 billion in 2024 and mounting debt, every day of delayed production represents millions in lost revenue. Yet Ortberg’s “fix first, produce later” philosophy represents a fundamental shift in Boeing’s approach. For years, the company had been criticized for prioritizing financial metrics over engineering excellence – a cultural change that many blamed for the 737 MAX tragedies.
The math is stark: Boeing lost $3.86 billion in just the last three months of 2024, taking about $3 billion in charges in its commercial aircraft unit and defense business. These aren’t one-time hiccups – they’re systematic problems that require systematic solutions, not quick fixes driven by quarterly earnings pressure.
This wasn’t just corporate speak. When grilled by senators in April 2025, Boeing’s CEO admits the company “made serious missteps” that hurt the safety of its planes. Such candid admissions from a CEO are rare in an industry where legal liability concerns can keep executives speaking in carefully crafted euphemisms.
The strategy seemed to be working – until June 2025.
The Air India Crash
The Air India Flight 171 tragedy that claimed 270 lives (with corrected casualty figures from the investigation) represents more than just another crisis for Boeing – it’s a potential inflection point that could determine the company’s future survival. The 11-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash marked the model’s first fatal accident since its 2011 market launch, making it particularly significant for investigators and investors alike.
While internet discussions have pointed to possible dual engine failure, investigators are still determining the root cause. For Boeing, the uncertainty creates a dangerous waiting game. Even if the investigation ultimately clears Boeing of responsibility, the reputational damage and increased regulatory scrutiny are already underway.
This risk premium reflects the reality that Boeing operates in an industry where single events can seemingly destroy decades of value creation.
The crash’s timing couldn’t be worse for Ortberg’s turnaround efforts. He cancelled his participation in the Paris Air Show to focus on the investigation – the right decision ethically, but one that underscores how crisis management continues to dominate his agenda rather than growth initiatives.
The Ripple Effects: Beyond the Balance Sheet
The India crash’s impact extends beyond Boeing’s already battered reputation. Rescuers searched for missing people and aircraft debris in charred buildings in Ahmedabad. The human cost is undefinable – 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian lost their lives, many likely families traveling between home countries.
For Boeing, each crash carries a multiplier effect that’s hard to quantify financially but punishing in reality. The company maintains cash and marketable securities of $26.3 billion, but this liquidity could evaporate quickly if major customers cancel orders or demand compensation. Airline customers become more cautious, regulators increase scrutiny, and insurance costs skyrocket. Boeing’s stock price becomes a daily referendum on its future, affecting everything from employee morale to supplier relationships.
The financial implications are staggering when you consider Boeing’s precarious position. With operating cash flow of ($3.5) billion in Q4 2024 alone, the company cannot afford major order cancellations or regulatory groundings. More immediately, India ordered safety checks on its entire 787 fleet, and other aviation authorities are likely to follow suit. This kind of regulatory response can ground fleets, delay deliveries, and trigger a cascade of financial consequences that can take years to resolve – consequences that Boeing, with its current burn rate, might not survive.
The Stock Market’s Disconnect: When Numbers Don’t Add Up
Despite the operational chaos and mounting losses, Boeing’s stock has defied gravity in ways that would make even their aircraft engineers jealous. The stock gained 43% from November 2024 to over $200 per share by early 2025 – a rally that seems divorced from the company’s fundamental reality.
This creates a puzzling contradiction. While Boeing burned through $14.3 billion in cash during 2024 and faces an uncertain future, investors bid up the stock to levels that financial analysts struggle to justify. Using traditional valuation methods like discounted cash flow analysis, Boeing’s fair value appears to be somewhere between $127 to $146 per share – well below its current trading price of over $200.
The valuation gap becomes even more stark when compared to Boeing’s European rival. Boeing trades at over 20 times 2028 forward earnings, while Airbus trades closer to 15 times. This premium seems unjustified given Boeing’s operational struggles and Airbus’s steady market share gains.
Boeing’s credit rating tells another story entirely. The company sits precariously at the very edge of investment grade status across all major rating agencies: S&P rates it BBB-, Moody’s gives it Baa3, and Fitch also assigns BBB-. These are the lowest possible investment-grade ratings, just one notch above junk status. For a company with such ratings to command a premium valuation over its financially healthier competitor defies conventional investment logic.
The Cash Flow Reality: When Hope Meets Mathematics
The mathematics of Boeing’s situation becomes clear when examining the company’s cash flow projections. Analysts expect Boeing’s free cash flow to improve from the devastating negative $14.3 billion in 2024 to a still-negative $3.4 billion in 2025, finally turning positive in 2026 and climbing toward $9.2 billion by 2028.
These projections assume everything goes according to plan – no major accidents, no regulatory groundings, no significant order cancellations. Given Boeing’s recent track record, betting on smooth execution seems optimistic at best. The company needs to reach its historical 2018 free cash flow highs of $13.6 billion to justify current investor expectations, a target that seems distant given ongoing operational challenges.
The disconnect between Boeing’s financial reality and its stock price creates a precarious situation. With increased share count due to dilutive financing (now 753 million shares outstanding), Boeing needs to generate large cash flows just to provide reasonable returns to the expanded shareholder base. The company recently lowered its 20-year aircraft demand forecast from 43,975 to 43,600 planes – a seemingly small 0.9% reduction that nonetheless signals more conservative expectations about industry growth.
This article draws from sources such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg,and other reputed media houses. Please note, this blog post is intended for general educational purposes only and does not serve as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. It may contain forward-looking statements, and actual outcomes can vary due to numerous factors. Past performance of any security does not guarantee future results.This blog is for informational purposes only. Neither the information contained herein, nor any opinion expressed, should be construed or deemed to be construed as solicitation or as offering advice for the purposes of the purchase or sale of any security, investment, or derivatives.The information and opinions contained in the report were considered by VF Securities, Inc.to be valid when published. Any person placing reliance on the blog does so entirely at his or her own risk, and does not accept any liability as a result.Securities markets may be subject to rapid and unexpected price movements, and past performance is not necessarily an indication of future performance. Investors must undertake independent analysis with their own legal, tax, and financial advisors and reach their own conclusions regarding investment in securities markets.Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
