By
Seattle Times business reporter
LONDON — Boeing commercial airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope is optimistic about the company’s long-delayed 777X family — even if Boeing did have to scrap one of the first planes from that program.
Speaking to reporters Sunday ahead of the Farnborough Airshow, Pope confirmed that Boeing had scrapped one of its 777X planes, after trade publication The Air Current first published the news earlier that day. Citing anonymous sources, The Air Current reported that last year Boeing quietly scrapped its seventh 777-9, known as WH007.
The decision to do so was made “a while ago” and has already been included in Boeing’s financials, Pope said, so it won’t have to disclose any additional costs specifically from this scrapped plane.
In October, Boeing took a $4.9 billion charge on its 777X program and delayed the first 777-9 delivery to 2027. Company leaders said this month, ahead of the airshow, that Boeing is still on track for first delivery in 2027, seven years after it originally intended.
Boeing always anticipated some rework on its early 777X planes, adjusting for design changes in a process it calls change-incorporation, Pope said. As part of that, it is “always looking at how much that change is going to cost and the what will be the capability of the airplane and making sure we’re getting the right solution not only for Boeing but for our customer.”
Overall, Pope said she “felt really good” about the change-incorporation program. That work will be done at the same Everett factory where Boeing will build the 777X, but the rework will be led by a separate team.
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A spokesperson for Boeing said Sunday that all of the already built 777-9s will have their own plan and schedule, depending on when they underwent final assembly. The change-incorporation work is already underway, the spokesperson said.
“We are in the early stages of this activity and expect to complete it over the next several years,” the spokesperson said. The partially assembled plane that Boeing decided not to complete was “disassembled following industry best practices for recycling,” the spokesperson continued. Boeing has not disassembled any other early planes.
CEO Kelly Ortberg told analysts earlier this year that about 30 777X planes will go through that change-incorporation program.
David Strauss, an analyst at Wells Fargo, said on that call that the idea of change-incorporation “sounds a bit scary based on past history.” He was likely referring to Boeing’s troubled start for its 787 Dreamliner program, which similarly went through a change-incorporation program.
Boeing had to write off the first six test-flight 787s built, donating some to museums and scrapping one years later in 2018. The early 787s became known as the “terrible teens” and many were slowly sold off at a steep discount.
On Sunday, Pope told reporters that Boeing “learned a lot” from the 787 change-incorporation program and consulted those who were involved, including retired workers.
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“We’ve brought back the experts to make sure we are very clear on what worked well and where is there may be an opportunity to do better,” Pope said. “I feel very confident that we’ve collected the lessons of the past.”
Despite the news of the day, Pope told reporters she had seen Boeing’s production system stabilize since she took over as head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, or BCA, in March 2024. That means the company can now shift its focus to optimization.
More specifically, she said, “we want to bring back some of those lean fundamental principles,” referring to a manufacturing philosophy of minimizing waste in order to improve efficiency.
Already, BCA focused on three things: executing its safety and quality plan adopted after a midair fuselage blowout in 2024; delivering quality airplanes to customers on time; and finalizing certification programs like the 777X and two new MAX variants. This year, Pope said, it added a fourth: innovating for productivity and performance.
Pope pointed to Boeing’s new, fourth 737 MAX line it opened in Everett earlier this month as an example of optimizing.
Beyond the 777X, Pope fielded questions about the possibility of an all-new aircraft program coming from Boeing soon. She stayed consistent in her response, matching the same sentiment Ortberg shares when asked about the same topic. Boeing will wait until the market is ready, the technology is ready and it is ready.
Pope said there’s no way to predict when all those things will align and refused to put a specific date on the table. But, because technology and innovation is moving at a faster pace than ever before, she said, “We have to watch that timing.”
Lauren Rosenblatt: 206-464-2927 or lrosenblatt@seattletimes.com. Lauren Rosenblatt is a Seattle Times business reporter covering Boeing and the aerospace industry.
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