Boeing Ends Apology Tour And Declares “We Back Up” as 57% Revenue Jump Shocks Wall Street

“I want you to go ahead and put the word out that we back up…” -Kelly Ortberg

If you’ve had the cojones to hold onto Boeing through the last 5 years of crashes  (literal and financial), congressional hearings, door panels trying to imitate frisbees, and a $40 billion cash bonfire… then today is your long awaited and much deserved award.

Because the Greyhound of the sky just dropped numbers and looked Wall Street dead in the eye like, “Are you not entertained?”

To close out the year (Q4), Boeing decided to remind everyone it still knows how to put up numbers. Q4 revenue ripped 57% higher to $23.9 billion, deliveries nearly doubled, and cash flow landed at $400 million… roughly twice what the suits were nervously bracing for. For a company that’s spent the last few years treating apologies on Capitol Hill like a full-time hobby, that’s a red-panties, cigars-on-the-tarmac kind of night.

And no, this wasn’t some accounting sleight of hand (well… not entirely). Boeing actually delivered 600 airplanes in 2025, up from 348 the year before… its best showing since 2018, aka before “who built this plane?” became a pre-flight ritual.

Ortberg, fresh out of retirement and straight into the cockpit in 2024, delivered the most CEO line imaginable: “There’s a lot to be optimistic about.”

Not exactly a Tony Robbins seminar, but probably the safest sentence he could say without tempting fate.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Now let’s get to the really good news (I know it’s still shocking)...

Commercial airplane revenue exploded nearly 140% year-over-year, hitting $11.38 billion. Defense revenue climbed 37% to $7.42 billion. Airlines are lining up for delivery slots into the 2030s, because apparently fuel efficiency matters when jet fuel costs more than oat milk.

Boeing even outsold Airbus on net orders last year (1,173 vs. 889 for Airbus) a rare flex after years of playing second fiddle. Recent customers include Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both locking in planes for the next decade.

That said, before anyone declares Boeing fully healed, let’s remember the fine print. The company still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to ramp 737 Max production beyond 42 planes per month… a limit imposed after that minor January 2024 incident where a panel tried to leave the aircraft mid-flight.

Investors also want timelines. Real ones. For the Max 7. The Max 10. The 777X. And those two very overdue Air Force One jets that have been stuck in aircraft purgatory long enough to start paying rent. Deliveries matter because that’s when Boeing actually gets paid. And after burning through tens of billions since 2019, “eventually” isn’t going to cut it anymore.

All that to say, this quarter didn’t fix Boeing. But it did prove something important: The turnaround is no longer theoretical. Planes are leaving the factory. Cash is coming in. Airlines are committing long-term. And for the first time in a while, Boeing’s trending on Twitter for all the right reasons.

Sure, there’s still a long runway ahead. But at least this thing is finally rolling forward… instead of back into another investigation.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News doesn’t hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.