Boeing reports record orders, deliveries to airlines in 2014

Boeing Co. set records for aircraft orders and deliveries in 2014, as airlines spent heavily to upgrade their fleets with new, more fuel-efficient planes.

Chicago-based Boeing said Tuesday it took net orders for 1,432 planes with a total listed value of $232.7 billion. Airlines routinely get steep discounts from sticker prices, and Boeing didn’t disclose how much it will get from the orders.

The company said that it delivered 723 planes last year and finished 2014 with a backlog of 5,789 orders, also a record.

About two-thirds of the deliveries and three-fourths of the orders were for Boeing’s popular 737 single-aisle jet, a workhorse for short and medium-length flights by airlines around the world.

The results were also helped by the wide-body 787 model that the company calls Dreamliners. Airlines are flying them on international routes that don’t command enough traffic to fill a jumbo jet. Boeing said it delivered 114 Dreamliners last year, including the first 787-9, a stretched version of the original 787-8.

Cancelations declined, helping boost net orders. Boeing said that it took 1,550 orders and had 118 cancelations in 2014, compared with 1,531 orders and 176 cancelations in 2013.

Boeing, which is based in Chicago and builds planes in the Seattle area and South Carolina, and European rival Airbus have built up huge order books as profitable airlines look to refresh their fleets. For Boeing, strength in the commercial-aircraft business has helped offset weakness in defense production.

Airbus is scheduled to announce its 2014 orders and deliveries on Jan. 13.

Shares of Boeing fell $1.13 to $127.92 in afternoon trading Tuesday. They fell 5 percent in 2014 even as airline stocks soared.