Boeing on Wednesday announced new financial losses related to its Starliner commercial flight program. In its quarterly report, Boeing announced a $125 million loss due to delays in the crewed manned test. It’s still ongoing. Overall, the company has incurred total losses of $1.6 billion since the Starliner program began.
These losses are due to delays and additional work to resolve problems on the Starliner. In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to develop Starliner, and the capsule was projected to be ready by the end of 2017. But flight tests were continually delayed and did not begin until June 5, 2024.
Boeing also announced the appointment of Kelly Ortberg as CEO, effective August 8, replacing Dave Calhoun, who led the company during the 737 MAX scandals. Ortberg was previously CEO of Rockwell Collins, now known as Collins Aerospace.
Quarterly losses since 2016
NASA signed contracts with Boeing and SpaceX to develop Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly astronauts at a fixed price. This means that contractors, not the government, are responsible for cost overruns. Beginning in 2016, Boeing’s financial statements recorded new losses every quarter. The cost of fixing the problems identified during the test flight fell on Boeing’s shoulders.
NASA and Boeing have committed at least $6.7 billion to the Starliner program since 2010, including developing, testing and paying for six crewed Starliner flights. At the time, SpaceX began flying astronauts in 2020, and NASA’s contracts with the company for a similar amount of work on the Crew Dragon program all totaled more than $3.1 billion.
SpaceX has completed all six of its first crewed flights for NASA, while Boeing is still waiting at least another year to begin Starliner operations. Because of Boeing’s delays, NASA extended its contract with SpaceX for eight additional flights through the late 2020s.
Boeing executives blame the fixed-price contract structure for the Starliner program’s unprofitability. The company also reported losses on other programs, such as the development of new Air Force One presidential jets and refueling drones for the Pentagon.
SpaceX has been successful with fixed-price contracts. NASA has selected SpaceX and Blue Origin for contracts to develop lunar landing modules as part of the Artemis program.
Earlier, we reported on how the Starliner mission would soon come to the end as the spacecraft’s engines successfully started running.
According to arstechnica.com
