Boeing faces cash crunch due to undelivered 787 planes: Report

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is staring at a cash crunch and "capacity hangover" due its inventory of undelivered 787 Dreamliners.

US-based Boeing is also facing a shortage of space to store the wide-bodied aircraft, and is using every portion of the airfields near its factories in Washington and South Carolina, says a report by Bloomberg.

"The next couple of years are just going to be very hard for this airplane (Boeing 787 Dreamliner)," George Ferguson, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Boeing declined to comment on the number of 787s in its inventory or production plans, as per the report. 

"We continue to closely monitor the commercial marketplace by staying very engaged with our customers around the globe to fully understand short term and long term requirements," Greg Smith, the company’s chief financial officer said, as quoted by the report. 

The company was hoping the 787 Dreamliner could help it cope with the losses due to grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX after two plane crashes.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a plunge in demand for air travel, forcing airlines to slow down or cancel deliveries the 787, Boeing’s 777 and Airbus' A350 and A330neo, the report added.

Boeing is also seeing a "capacity hangover", since it manufactured the 787 Dreamliner at the pace of 14 aircraft per month last year.

Boeing's factories have over 50 Dreamliners in its factories, double the number of aircraft usually lined up for deliveries, the report said, citing a blogger called Uresh Sheth.

Boeing has even begun storing the 787 Dreamliners in a desert lot in Victorville, California, according to Sheth.