WASHINGTON — Boeing says it expects to take additional losses on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program when it releases its fourth quarter financial results next week.
In a Jan. 23 press release, Boeing provided preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2024. That included a projection of $1.7 billion in charges against earnings for five programs in its Defense, Space and Security business unit.
Most of those charges will go towards two programs: $800 million for the KC-46A tanker and $500 million for the T-7A trainer aircraft. That leaves $400 million in charges for Starliner as well as the VC-25B presidential aircraft and MQ-25 drone.
Boeing offered similar guidance for its third quarter results in October, initially warning of $2 billion of charges, $1.6 billion of which would go towards the KC-46A and T-7A. The company later reported $250 million in charges on Starliner in the third quarter.
Boeing didn’t provide any additional details on the expected charges against earnings. The company is scheduled to report its fourth quarter financial results Jan. 28.
Boeing and NASA have offered few updates on the status of Starliner since shortly after the spacecraft returned to Earth uncrewed in September to complete the Crew Flight Test mission. NASA elected to keep astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched on Starliner in June, on the station citing concerns about the performance of thrusters that malfunctioned during the spacecraft’s journey to the station. Starliner landed safely in White Sands, New Mexico.
In October, NASA said it was pushing back the first operational Starliner mission beyond 2025, electing to use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft for both the Crew-10 mission, now launching to the ISS in March, and Crew-11 in late summer.
“The timing and configuration of Starliner’s next flight will be determined once a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established,” NASA said at the time. “NASA is keeping options on the table for how best to achieve system certification, including windows of opportunity for a potential Starliner flight in 2025.” The agency has not provided updates on the status of Starliner since then.
Boeing has also not provided updates since stating in its last earnings call in October that it was studying ways to streamline its business, which could involve discontinuing work in some areas outside of commercial aviation and defense. Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive, said then that “there’s probably some things on the fringe that we can be more efficient with or that just distract us from our main goals.”
In a report released Jan. 23, venture firm Space Capital predicted that both Boeing and Airbus would divest their space divisions this year. The report stated that the divestitures, if they occur, would mark “a pivotal moment in the space economy” by shaking up the industry, creating “new opportunities and risks in the government’s extended capabilities in space.”
