Boeing’s 737 Max may not fly until early 2020, says Barclays

Bloomberg

Boeing Co’s troubled 737 Max jets are unlikely to return to service until early 2020 as regulatory authorities in the US and Europe remain divided and the planemaker has yet to submit its finalised software fix planned for this month, according to Barclays.
In a note lowering forecasts for the company, analyst David Strauss estimated the company’s free cash flow for 2021-2022 will be about 20 percent lower than what was expected before the aircraft was grounded, in the high $20s per share range.
The analyst said his updated view “reflects a substantial slowdown” given that large customers appeared to have significantly reduced payments based on their
financial disclosures and that Boeing’s progress payment balance hadn’t increased in the second quarter.
Boeing 737 Max planes were grounded in March following two fatal crashes within a span of five months.
The company has said the aircraft is on track to be cleared by US regulators early in the fourth quarter, but some aviation industry executives have recently warned that a growing divide between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the US Federal Aviation Administration may extend the grounding.
Such a delay would also hurt airlines, many of which have removed the Max from their flying schedules until the end of this year or early next year.

Boeing’s slow jet sales send key demand measure to 2009 levels
Bloomberg

It’s still too early to sound an alarm about the health of the aerospace industry, but one key indicator is blinking yellow.
Slowing jetliner sales at Boeing Co have sent its book-to-bill ratio, a measure of demand, plunging to levels not seen since the 2009 recession. Investors will be looking for insights into the outlook for commercial aircraft, when Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg makes his first public comments since the company reported second-quarter earnings in July.
The Chicago-based planemaker netted negative 85 aircraft orders this year through August 31.