Boeing Earnings 2020-12-31
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020
or
| TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the transition period from to
Commission file number 1-442
| THE BOEING COMPANY | ||||||||
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |||||||||||||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |||||||||||||
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (312) -544-2000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| (Title of each class) | (Trading Symbol) | (Name of each exchange on which registered) | ||||||||||||
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of June 30, 2020, there were 564,420,221 common shares outstanding held by nonaffiliates of the registrant, and the aggregate market value of the common shares (based upon the closing price of these shares on the New York Stock Exchange) was approximately $103.5 billion.
The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of January 25, 2021 was 582,996,860 .
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Part III incorporates information by reference to the registrant’s definitive proxy statement, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the close of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.
THE BOEING COMPANY
Index to the Form 10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020
| Page | |||||||||||
PART I
Item 1. Business
The Boeing Company, together with its subsidiaries (herein referred to as “Boeing,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our”), is one of the world’s major aerospace firms.
We are organized based on the products and services we offer. We operate in four reportable segments:
•Commercial Airplanes (BCA);
•Defense, Space & Security (BDS);
•Global Services (BGS);
•Boeing Capital (BCC).
Commercial Airplanes Segment
This segment develops, produces and markets commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. We are a leading producer of commercial aircraft and offer a family of commercial jetliners designed to meet a broad spectrum of global passenger and cargo requirements of airlines. This family of commercial jet aircraft in production includes the 737 narrow-body model and the 747, 767, 777 and 787 wide-body models. Development continues on the 777X program and certain 737 MAX derivatives.
Defense, Space & Security Segment
This segment engages in the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for strike, surveillance and mobility, including fighter and trainer aircraft; vertical lift, including rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and commercial derivative aircraft, including anti-submarine and tanker aircraft. In addition, this segment engages in the research, development, production and modification of the following products and related services: strategic defense and intelligence systems, including strategic missile and defense systems, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR), cyber and information solutions, and intelligence systems; satellite systems, including government and commercial satellites and space exploration.
BDS' primary customer is the United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD). Revenues from the U.S. DoD, including foreign military sales through the U.S. government, accounted for approximately 83% of its 2020 revenues. Other significant BDS customers include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and customers in international defense, civil and commercial satellite markets.
This segment's primary products include the following fixed-wing military aircraft: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F-15 programs, P-8 programs, KC-46A Tanker, and T-7A Red Hawk. This segment produces rotorcraft and rotary-wing programs, such as CH-47 Chinook, AH-64 Apache, and V-22 Osprey. Unmanned vehicles include the MQ-25, QF-16, and Insitu’s Scan Eagle aircraft. In addition, this segment's products include space and missile systems including: government and commercial satellites, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the International Space Station, Commercial Crew, missile defense and weapons programs, and Joint Direct Attack Munition, as well as the United Launch Alliance joint venture.
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Global Services Segment
This segment provides services to our commercial and defense customers worldwide. BGS sustains aerospace platforms and systems with a full spectrum of products and services, including supply chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance and modifications, upgrades and conversions, spare parts, pilot and maintenance training systems and services, technical and maintenance documents, and data analytics and digital services.
Boeing Capital Segment
BCC seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product, while managing overall financing exposure. BCC’s portfolio consists of equipment under operating leases, sales-type/finance leases, notes and other receivables, assets held for sale or re-lease and investments.
Intellectual Property
We own numerous patents and have licenses for the use of patents owned by others, which relate to our products and their manufacture. In addition to owning a large portfolio of intellectual property, we also license intellectual property to and from third parties. For example, the U.S. government has licenses in our patents that are developed in performance of government contracts, and it may use or authorize others to use the inventions covered by such patents for government purposes. Unpatented research, development and engineering skills, as well as certain trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights, also make an important contribution to our business. While our intellectual property rights in the aggregate are important to the operation of each of our businesses, we do not believe that our business would be materially affected by the expiration of any particular intellectual property right or termination of any particular intellectual property patent license agreement.
Human Capital
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact lives and businesses around the world. We have taken proactive steps to help protect the health and safety of our employees and maintain business continuity. A vast majority of our office workers continue to telecommute. Within our production and office areas we have established a number of safety protocols, including face covering and physical distance requirements, enhanced cleaning, encouraging daily self-health checks, voluntary temperature screening stations, and access to virtual primary care physicians at no cost. We have also implemented a coronavirus hotline with direct access to our Health Services group to report COVID-19 tests due to illness or exposure and positive COVID-19 tests. As part of that reporting process, we have developed a robust contact tracing program to identify employees who were in close contact with the ill employee in the workplace. We are also actively planning for the time when COVID-19 vaccines will be available for our employees, including reaching out to county public health departments to learn more about their plans to distribute vaccines and monitoring information from vaccine manufacturers about when vaccines will be available. All of the actions above are overseen by Boeing’s Crisis Management Working Group, a multi-functional, multi-discipline team tasked with integrating all aspects of Boeing’s COVID-19 response.
Additionally, we are adapting to the market impacts of COVID-19 and positioning the company for the future. One of these measures includes reducing the size of our workforce. As of December 31, 2020, Boeing’s total workforce was approximately 141,000, with 11% located outside of the U.S. We expect to reduce the size of our workforce in 2021 through additional workforce actions as well as natural attrition.
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As of December 31, 2020, our workforce is composed of approximately 47,000 union members. Our principal collective bargaining agreements were with the following unions:
| Union | Percent of our Employees Represented | Status of the Agreements with Major Union | ||||||
| The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) | 20% | We have two major agreements; one expiring in July 2022 and one in September 2024. | ||||||
| The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) | 10% | We have two major agreements expiring in October 2026. | ||||||
| The United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) | 1% | We have one major agreement expiring in October 2022. | ||||||
We aspire to be the most equitable, diverse and inclusive company. Guided by our values, we are committed to creating a company where everyone is included and respected, and where we support each other in reaching our full potential. We are committed to diverse representation across all levels of our workforce to reflect the vibrant and thriving diversity of the communities in which we live and work. We also support Business Resource Groups open to all employees that focus on gender, race & ethnicity, generations, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. These groups help foster inclusion among all teammates, build awareness, recruit and retain a diverse workforce and support the company in successfully operating in a global, multicultural business environment. We are committed to increased transparency and will publicly share our diversity metrics annually, beginning in 2021.
To attract and retain the best-qualified talent, we offer competitive benefits, including market-competitive compensation, healthcare, paid time off, parental leave, retirement benefits, tuition assistance, employee skills development, leadership development, and rotation programs. In 2020, our voluntary resignation rate was approximately 3%. Additionally, we hired approximately 8,000 new employees in 2020 for critical skills and had an offer acceptance rate of 82%.
Employees are encouraged to provide feedback about their experience through ongoing employee engagement activities. Boeing actively listens to its employees via surveys ranging from pre-hire to exiting the company. These voluntary surveys provide aggregate trend reports for the company to address in real time and ensure Boeing maintains an employee-focused experience and culture. We also invest in rewarding performance and have established a multi-level recognition program for the purpose of acknowledging the achievements of excellent individual or team performance.
We are committed to supporting our employees continuous development of professional, technical and leadership skills through access to digital learning resources and through partnerships with leading professional/technical societies and organizations around the world. For 2020, Boeing employees consumed approximately 4 million hours of learning. We offer the ability for our people to pursue degree programs, professional certificates and individual courses in strategic fields of study from more than 300 accredited colleges and universities, online and across the globe through our tuition assistance program. Over 12,000 Boeing employees leverage these programs every year.
Safety, quality and integrity are at the core of how Boeing operates. We aspire to achieve zero workplace injuries and provide a safe, open and accountable work environment for our employees. We provide several channels for all employees to speak up, ask for guidance, and report concerns related
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to ethics or safety violations. We address employee concerns and take appropriate actions that uphold our Boeing values.
Competition
The commercial jet aircraft market and the airline industry remain extremely competitive. We face aggressive international competitors who are intent on increasing their market share, such as Airbus and other entrants from Russia, China and Japan. We are focused on improving our processes and continuing cost reduction efforts. We intend to continue to compete with other airplane manufacturers by providing customers with greater value products.
BDS faces strong competition in all market segments, primarily from Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, General Dynamics Corporation and SpaceX. Non-U.S. companies such as BAE Systems and Airbus Group continue to build a strategic presence in the U.S. market by strengthening their North American operations and partnering with U.S. defense companies. In addition, certain competitors have occasionally formed teams with other competitors to address specific customer requirements. BDS expects the trend of strong competition to continue into 2021.
The commercial and defense services markets are extremely challenging and are made up of many of the same strong U.S. and non-U.S. competitors facing BCA and BDS along with other competitors in those markets. BGS leverages our extensive services network offering products and services which span the life cycle of our defense and commercial airplane programs: training, fleet services and logistics, maintenance and engineering, modifications and upgrades - as well as the daily cycle of gate-to-gate operations. BGS expects the market to remain highly competitive in 2021, and intends to grow market share by leveraging a high level of customer satisfaction and productivity.
Regulatory Matters
Our businesses are heavily regulated in most of our markets. We deal with numerous U.S. government agencies and entities, including but not limited to all of the branches of the U.S. military, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Homeland Security. Similar government authorities exist in our non-U.S. markets.
Government Contracts. The U.S. government, and other governments, may terminate any of our government contracts at their convenience, as well as for default based on our failure to meet specified performance requirements. If any of our U.S. government contracts were to be terminated for convenience, we generally would be entitled to receive payment for work completed and allowable termination or cancellation costs. If any of our government contracts were to be terminated for default, generally the U.S. government would pay only for the work that has been accepted and could require us to pay the difference between the original contract price and the cost to re-procure the contract items, net of the work accepted from the original contract. The U.S. government can also hold us liable for damages resulting from the default.
Commercial Aircraft. In the U.S., our commercial aircraft products are required to comply with FAA regulations governing production and quality systems, airworthiness and installation approvals, repair procedures and continuing operational safety. Outside the U.S., similar requirements exist for airworthiness, installation and operational approvals. These requirements are generally administered by the national aviation authorities of each country and, in the case of Europe, coordinated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Environmental. We are subject to various federal, state, local and non-U.S. laws and regulations relating to environmental protection, including the discharge, treatment, storage, disposal and
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remediation of hazardous substances and wastes. We continually assess our compliance status and management of environmental matters to ensure our operations are in compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations. Investigation, remediation, and operation and maintenance costs associated with environmental compliance and management of sites are a normal, recurring part of our operations. These costs often are allowable costs under our contracts with the U.S. government. It is reasonably possible that costs incurred to ensure continued environmental compliance could have a material impact on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows if additional work requirements or more stringent clean-up standards are imposed by regulators, new areas of soil, air and groundwater contamination are discovered and/or expansions of work scope are prompted by the results of investigations.
A Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) has joint and several liability under existing U.S. environmental laws. Where we have been designated a PRP by the Environmental Protection Agency or a state environmental agency, we are potentially liable to the government or third parties for the full cost of remediating contamination at our facilities or former facilities or at third-party sites. If we were required to fully fund the remediation of a site for which we were originally assigned a partial share, the statutory framework would allow us to pursue rights to contribution from other PRPs. For additional information relating to environmental contingencies, see Note 13 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.
Non-U.S. Sales. Our non-U.S. sales are subject to both U.S. and non-U.S. governmental regulations and procurement policies and practices, including regulations relating to import-export control, tariffs, investment, exchange controls, anti-corruption, and repatriation of earnings. Non-U.S. sales are also subject to varying currency, political and economic risks.
Raw Materials, Parts, and Subassemblies
We are highly dependent on the availability of essential materials, parts and subassemblies from our suppliers and subcontractors. The most important raw materials required for our aerospace products are aluminum (sheet, plate, forgings and extrusions), titanium (sheet, plate, forgings and extrusions) and composites (including carbon and boron). Although alternative sources generally exist for these raw materials, qualification of the sources could take a year or more. Many major components and product equipment items are procured or subcontracted on a sole-source basis with a number of companies.
Suppliers
We are dependent upon the ability of a large number of U.S. and non-U.S. suppliers and subcontractors to meet performance specifications, quality standards and delivery schedules at our anticipated costs. While we maintain an extensive qualification and performance surveillance system to control risk associated with such reliance on third parties, failure of suppliers or subcontractors to meet commitments could adversely affect production schedules and program/contract profitability, thereby jeopardizing our ability to fulfill commitments to our customers. We are also dependent on the availability of energy sources, such as electricity, at affordable prices.
Seasonality
No material portion of our business is considered to be seasonal.
Executive Officers of the Registrant
See “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” in Part III.
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Other Information
Boeing was originally incorporated in the State of Washington in 1916 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1934. Our principal executive offices are located at 100 N. Riverside Plaza, Chicago, Illinois 60606 and our telephone number is (312) 544-2000.
General information about us can be found at www.boeing.com. The information contained on or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this or any other report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as any amendments to those reports, are available free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding SEC registrants, including Boeing.
Forward-Looking Statements
This report, as well as our annual report to shareholders, quarterly reports, and other filings we make with the SEC, press and earnings releases and other written and oral communications, contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “projects,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “targets,” “anticipates” and similar expressions generally identify these forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements relating to our future financial condition and operating results, as well as any other statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact.
Forward-looking statements are based on expectations and assumptions that we believe to be reasonable when made, but that may not prove to be accurate. These statements are not guarantees and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Many factors, including those set forth in the “Risk Factors” section below and other important factors disclosed in this report and from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
An investment in our common stock or debt securities involves risks and uncertainties and our actual results and future trends may differ materially from our past or projected future performance. We urge investors to consider carefully the risk factors described below in evaluating the information contained in this report.
Risks Related to COVID-19
We face significant risks related to the spread of the COVID-19 virus and developments surrounding the global pandemic have had, and will continue to have, significant effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. We also face significant risks related to the global economic downturn and severe reduction in commercial air traffic caused by the pandemic. These risks include materially reduced demand for our products and services, increased instability in our supply chain, and challenges to the ongoing viability of some of our customers. We may face similar risks in connection with any future public health crises, including resurgences in the spread of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has subjected our business, operations, financial performance, cash flows and financial condition to a number of risks, including, but not limited to those discussed below.
Operations-related risks: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing increased operational challenges from the need to protect employee health and safety. These challenges have included, and may in the future include production site shutdowns, and workplace disruptions and restrictions on the movement of people, raw materials and goods, both at our own facilities and those of our customers and suppliers.
For example, during the second quarter of 2020, we temporarily suspended operations in Puget Sound, South Carolina, and Philadelphia, as well as at several other key production sites. We had not previously experienced a complete suspension of our operations at these production sites. While we have resumed operations at all of our production sites we cannot predict whether or where further production disruptions could be required or what the ongoing impact of COVID-19-related operating restrictions will be. For example, we continue to experience additional operating costs due to social distancing requirements and other factors related to COVID-19 restrictions. We cannot predict the impact that future production disruptions may have on our business, operations, financial performance and financial condition. We continue to monitor federal, state, and municipal health authorities for new or modified guidance and requirements concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, and we may be required to impose additional operational restrictions and/or suspend operations at key production sites based on these requirements and recommendations and/or workplace disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Many of our suppliers also were required to suspend operations during the second quarter of 2020, and they may experience additional disruptions in 2021. Any such disruptions could have severe adverse impacts on our production costs, delivery schedule and/or ability to meet customer commitments.
Any prolonged suspension of operations or delayed recovery in our operations, and/or any similar suspension of operations or delayed recovery at one or more of our key suppliers, or the failure of any of our key suppliers, would result in further challenges to our business, leading to a further material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Liquidity risks: The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on our liquidity and overall debt levels. During the year ended December 31, 2020, net cash used by operating activities was $18.4 billion. At December 31, 2020, cash and short-term investments totaled $25.6 billion. Our debt balance totaled $63.6 billion at December 31, 2020, up from $27.3 billion at December 31, 2019. We expect negative operating cash flows in future quarters until deliveries begin to return to historical levels, and if
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the pace and scope of the recovery are worse than we currently contemplate, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to fund our operations and obligations. If we were to need to obtain additional financing, uncertainty related to COVID-19 and its impact on us and the aerospace industry, as well as continued uncertainty with respect to our credit rating could limit our access to credit markets and we may have difficulty obtaining financing on terms acceptable to us or at all. In addition, certain of our customers may also be unable to make timely payments to us. Factors that could limit our access to additional liquidity include further disruptions in the global capital markets and/or additional declines in our financial performance, outlook or credit ratings. The occurrence of any or all of these events could adversely affect our ability to fund our operations and/or meet outstanding debt obligations and contractual commitments. In addition, further downgrades in our credit ratings could adversely affect our cost of funds and related margins, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets, and a significant downgrade could have an adverse impact on our businesses.
Customer-related risks: Commercial air traffic has fallen dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has impacted passenger traffic most severely. Near-term cargo traffic has also fallen, but to a lesser extent as global trade has begun to recover. Most airlines have significantly reduced their capacity, and many could implement further reductions in the near future. Many airlines are also implementing significant reductions in staffing. These capacity changes are causing, and are expected to continue to cause, negative impacts to our customers’ revenue, earnings, and cash flow, and in some cases may threaten the future viability of some of our customers, potentially causing defaults within our customer financing portfolio, which was $2.0 billion as of December 31, 2020 and/or requiring us to remarket aircraft that have already been produced and/or are currently in backlog. If we are unable to successfully remarket these aircraft and/or the narrow-body and wide-body markets do not recover as soon as we are currently assuming, or if we are required to further reduce production rates and/or contract the accounting quantity on any of our commercial programs, we could experience material reductions in earnings and/or be required to recognize a reach-forward loss on one or more of our programs. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2020, we recognized a reach-forward loss on the 777X program in part due to impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, if 737 MAX aircraft in one or more jurisdictions remain grounded for an extended period of time, we may experience additional reductions to backlog and/or significant order cancellations. Additionally, we may experience fewer new orders and increased cancellations across all of our commercial airplane programs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated impacts on demand. Our customers may also lack sufficient liquidity to purchase new aircraft due to impacts from the pandemic. We are also observing a significant increase in the number of requests for payment deferrals, contract modifications, lease restructurings and similar actions, and these trends may lead to additional charges, impairments and other adverse financial impacts in our business over time. In addition, to the extent that customers have valid rights to cancel undelivered aircraft, we may be required to refund pre-delivery payments, putting additional constraints on our liquidity.
In addition to the near-term impact, there is risk that the industry implements longer-term strategies involving reduced capacity, shifting route patterns, and mitigation strategies related to impacts from COVID-19 and the risk of future public health crises. In addition, airlines may experience reduced demand due to reluctance by the flying public to travel due to travel restrictions and/or social distancing requirements.
As a result, there is significant uncertainty with respect to when commercial air traffic levels will begin to recover, and whether and at what point capacity will return to and/or exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. The COVID-19 pandemic also has increased, and its aftermath is also expected to continue to increase, uncertainty with respect to global trade volumes, which could put negative pressure on cargo traffic levels. Any of these factors would have a significant impact on the demand for both single-aisle and wide-body commercial aircraft, as well as for the services we provide to commercial airlines. In addition, a lengthy period of reduced industry-wide demand for commercial aircraft would put additional pressure on our suppliers, resulting in increased procurement costs and/or additional supply chain disruption. To
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the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic or its aftermath further impacts demand for our products and services or impairs the viability of some of our customers and/or suppliers, our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected, and those impacts could be material.
Other risks: The magnitude and duration of the global COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and continues to adversely affect our business and operating and financial results. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2020, due in part to the prolonged adverse impact of the pandemic on our earnings, we recorded an increase of $2.5 billion to the valuation allowance associated with deferred income tax assets. The pandemic also is expected to heighten many of the other risks described below. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic may also affect our operating and financial results in a manner that is not presently known to us or that we currently do not expect to present significant risks to our operations or financial results.
Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
We are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties related to the 737 MAX. These risks include uncertainties regarding the timing and conditions of 737 MAX regulatory approvals, in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions, lower than planned production rates and/or delivery rates, increased considerations to customers, increased supplier costs and supply chain health, changes to the assumptions and estimates made in our financial statements regarding the 737 program, and potential outcomes of various 737 MAX-related legal proceedings and government investigations.
On March 13, 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an order to suspend operations of all 737 MAX aircraft in the U.S. and by U.S. aircraft operators following two fatal 737 MAX accidents. Non-U.S. civil aviation authorities issued directives to the same effect. Deliveries of the 737 MAX were suspended until December 2020. The grounding has reduced revenues, operating margins, and cash flows, and will continue to do so until production rates return to pre-grounding levels. In connection with the effort to return the 737 MAX to service, we developed software updates for the 737 MAX, together with an associated pilot training and supplementary education program. We continue to work with certain non-U.S. civil aviation authorities to complete remaining steps toward certification and readiness for return to service worldwide. Any delays in certification in one or more jurisdictions and/or the ramp-up of deliveries or other liabilities associated with the accidents or grounding could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, and/or cash flows. In addition, multiple legal actions have been filed against us related to the 737 MAX. We also are fully cooperating with U.S. government investigations related to the accidents and the 737 MAX, including investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In January 2021, we entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that resolves the Department of Justice’s previously disclosed investigation into us regarding the evaluation of the 737 MAX airplane by the FAA. We expensed $744 in the fourth quarter of 2020 related to this agreement. Any further adverse impacts related to any such litigation or investigation could have a further material impact on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.
During 2019, we announced plans to reduce, and ultimately to suspend 737 production. Impacts related to these actions significantly increased costs to produce aircraft included in the current accounting quantity and have resulted in reduced 737 program and overall BCA segment operating margins. We have also made significant assumptions regarding estimated costs expected to be incurred in 2021 that should be included in program inventory and those estimated costs that will be expensed when incurred as abnormal production costs. If we are unable to return the 737 MAX aircraft to service in one or more jurisdictions or deliver 737 aircraft to customers on the schedule and/or at a pace consistent with our expectations, we will incur significant additional costs and/or delay the planned ramp-up of 737 production. These delays would also result in significant additional disruption to the 737 production system and further delay efforts to restore and/or implement previously planned increases in the 737
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production rate. Cash flows continue to be negatively impacted by delayed payments from customers, higher costs and inventory levels, and payments made to customers in connection with disruption to their operations. In addition, we have experienced claims and assertions from customers in connection with the grounding, and we recorded an earnings charge of $8,259 million, net of insurance recoveries of $500 million, in 2019, in connection with an estimate of potential concessions and other considerations to customers for disruptions related to the grounding and associated delivery delays.
Any further delays in regulatory approval of the 737 MAX in one or more jurisdictions, further disruptions to suppliers and/or the long-term health of the production system, supplier claims or assertions, or changes to estimated concessions or other considerations we expect to provide to customers could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, and/or cash flows. In the event of unanticipated additional training requirements in one or more jurisdictions, delays in regulatory approval, and/or delays in our ability to resume deliveries to one or more customers, we may be required to take actions with longer-term impact, such as further changes to our production plans, employment reductions and/or the expenditure of significant resources to support our supply chain and/or customers.
We have made significant estimates with respect to the 737 program regarding the number of units to be produced, the period during which those units are likely to be produced, and the units’ expected sales prices, production costs, program tooling and other non-recurring costs, and routine warranty costs. In addition to the estimated timing of the resumption of deliveries, we have made assumptions regarding outcomes of accident investigations and other government inquiries, timing of future 737 production rate increases, timing and sequence of future deliveries, supply chain health as we implement our production plans, as well as outcomes of negotiations with customers. Any changes in these estimates and/or assumptions with respect to the 737 program could have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations, and/or cash flows. For additional information, see our discussion under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis-Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates-737 MAX Grounding” on pages 55 - 56.
In addition to the impact of COVID-19 described above, our Commercial Airplanes and Global Services businesses depend heavily on commercial airlines, and are subject to unique risks.
Market conditions have a significant impact on demand for our commercial aircraft and related services. The commercial aircraft market is predominantly driven by long-term trends in airline passenger and cargo traffic. The principal factors underlying long-term traffic growth are sustained economic growth and political stability both in developed and emerging markets. Demand for our commercial aircraft is further influenced by airline profitability, availability of aircraft financing, world trade policies, government-to-government relations, technological advances, price and other competitive factors, fuel prices, terrorism, epidemics and environmental regulations. Traditionally, the airline industry has been cyclical and very competitive and has experienced significant profit swings and constant challenges to be more cost competitive. Significant deterioration in the global economic environment, the airline industry generally, or the financial stability of one or more of our major customers could result in fewer new orders for aircraft or services, or could cause customers to seek to postpone or cancel contractual orders and/or payments to us, which could result in lower revenues, profitability and cash flows and a reduction in our contractual backlog. In addition, because our commercial aircraft backlog consists of aircraft scheduled for delivery over a period of several years, any of these macroeconomic, industry or customer impacts could unexpectedly affect deliveries over a long period.
We enter into firm fixed-price aircraft sales contracts with indexed price escalation clauses which could subject us to losses if we have cost overruns or if increases in our costs exceed the applicable escalation rate. Commercial aircraft sales contracts are often entered into years before the aircraft are delivered. In order to help account for economic fluctuations between the contract date and delivery date, aircraft pricing generally consists of a fixed amount as modified by price escalation formulas
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derived from labor, commodity and other price indices. Our revenue estimates are based on current expectations with respect to these escalation formulas, but the actual escalation amounts are outside of our control. Escalation factors can fluctuate significantly from period to period. Changes in escalation amounts can significantly impact revenues and operating margins in our Commercial Airplanes business.
We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a limited number of commercial airlines. We can make no assurance that any customer will exercise purchase options, fulfill existing purchase commitments or purchase additional products or services from us. In addition, fleet decisions, airline consolidations or financial challenges involving any of our major commercial airline customers could significantly reduce our revenues and limit our opportunity to generate profits from those customers.
Our Commercial Airplanes business depends on our ability to maintain a healthy production system, achieve planned production rate targets, successfully develop new aircraft or new derivative aircraft, and meet or exceed stringent performance and reliability standards.
The commercial aircraft business is extremely complex, involving extensive coordination and integration with U.S and non-U.S. suppliers, highly-skilled labor from thousands of employees and other partners, and stringent regulatory requirements, including the risk of evolving standards for commercial aircraft certification, and performance and reliability standards. In addition, the introduction of new aircraft programs and/or derivatives, such as the 777X, involves increased risks associated with meeting development, testing, production, and certification schedules. The 737 program has also experienced significant disruption due to the grounding of the 737 MAX and associated suspension of 737 MAX production for part of 2020. As a result, our ability to deliver aircraft on time, satisfy regulatory and customer requirements, and achieve or maintain, as applicable, program profitability is subject to significant risks. For example, a number of our customers may have contractual remedies, including rights to reject individual airplane deliveries if the actual delivery date is significantly later than the contractual delivery date. Delays on the 737 MAX and 777X programs have resulted in, and may continue to result in, customers having the right to terminate orders and or substitute orders for other Boeing aircraft.
We must minimize disruption caused by production changes and achieve productivity improvements in order to meet customer demand and maintain our profitability. We have previously announced plans to adjust production rates on several of our commercial aircraft programs. We continue to engage in significant ongoing development, testing and production of the 777X aircraft. In addition, we continue to seek opportunities to reduce the costs of building our aircraft, including working with our suppliers to reduce supplier costs, identifying and implementing productivity improvements, and optimizing how we manage inventory. If production rate changes at any of our commercial aircraft assembly facilities are delayed or create significant disruption to our production system, or if our suppliers cannot timely deliver components to us at the cost and rates necessary to achieve our targets, we may be unable to meet delivery schedules and/or the financial performance of one or more of our programs may suffer.
Operational challenges impacting the production system for one or more of our commercial aircraft programs could result in production delays and/or failure to meet customer demand for new aircraft, either of which would negatively impact our revenues and operating margins. Our commercial aircraft production system is extremely complex. Operational issues, including delays or defects in supplier components, failure to meet internal performance plans, or delays or failures to achieve required regulatory approval, could result in significant out-of-sequence work and increased production costs, as well as delayed deliveries to customers, impacts to aircraft performance and/or increased warranty or fleet support costs. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2020, we expanded the scope of production inspections on the 787 program, and those inspections and associated rework are delaying scheduled deliveries and resulting in additional 787 aircraft in inventory.
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If our commercial airplanes fail to satisfy performance and reliability requirements, we could face additional costs and/or lower revenues. Developing and manufacturing commercial aircraft that meet or exceed our performance and reliability standards, as well as those of customers and regulatory agencies, can be costly and technologically challenging. These challenges are particularly significant with newer aircraft programs. Any failure of any Boeing aircraft to satisfy performance or reliability requirements could result in disruption to our operations, higher costs and/or lower revenues.
Changes in levels of U.S. government defense spending or overall acquisition priorities could negatively impact our financial position and results of operations.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenue from the U.S. government, primarily from defense related programs with the U.S. DoD. Levels of U.S. defense spending are very difficult to predict and may be impacted by numerous factors such as the evolving nature of the national security threat environment, U.S. national security strategy, U.S. foreign policy, the domestic political environment, macroeconomic conditions and the ability of the U.S. government to enact relevant legislation such as authorization and appropriations bills.
Although FY21 appropriations have been enacted, long-term uncertainty remains with respect to overall levels of defense spending beyond FY21, and it is likely that U.S. government discretionary spending, including defense spending, will continue to be subject to pressure. In addition, the timeliness of future appropriations for government departments and agencies remains a recurrent risk. A lapse in appropriations for government department or agencies would result in a full or partial government shutdown, which could impact the Company’s operations. Alternatively, Congress may fund government departments and agencies with one or more Continuing Resolutions; however, this could restrict the execution of certain program activities and delay new programs or competitions.
There continues to be uncertainty with respect to future acquisition priorities and program-level appropriations for the U.S. DoD and other government agencies (including NASA), including tension between modernization investments, sustainment investments, and investments in new technologies or emergent capabilities. Future investment priority changes or budget cuts, including changes associated with the authorizations and appropriations process could result in reductions, cancellations, and/or delays of existing contracts or programs, or future program opportunities. Any of these impacts could have a material effect on the results of the Company’s operations, financial position and/or cash flows.
In addition, as a result of the significant ongoing uncertainty with respect to both U.S. defense spending and the evolving nature of the national security threat environment, we also expect the U.S. DoD to continue to emphasize affordability, innovation, cybersecurity, and delivery of technical data and software in its procurement processes. If we can no longer adjust successfully to these changing acquisition policies our revenues and market share could be impacted.
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Our ability to deliver products and services that satisfy customer requirements is heavily dependent on the performance and financial stability of our subcontractors and suppliers, as well as on the availability of raw materials and other components.
We rely on other companies including U.S. and non-U.S. subcontractors and suppliers to provide and produce raw materials, integrated components and sub-assemblies, and production commodities and to perform some of the services that we provide to our customers. If one or more of our suppliers or subcontractors experiences financial difficulties, delivery delays or other performance problems, we may be unable to meet commitments to our customers or incur additional costs. In addition, if one or more of the raw materials on which we depend (such as aluminum, titanium or composites) becomes unavailable or is available only at very high prices, we may be unable to deliver one or more of our products in a timely fashion or at budgeted costs. In some instances, we depend upon a single source of supply. Any service disruption from one of these suppliers, either due to circumstances beyond the supplier’s control, such as geopolitical developments, or as a result of performance problems or financial difficulties, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet commitments to our customers or increase our operating costs.
Competition within our markets and with respect to the products we sell may reduce our future contracts and sales.
The markets in which we operate are highly competitive and one or more of our competitors may have more extensive or more specialized engineering, manufacturing and marketing capabilities than we do in some areas. In our Commercial Airplanes business, we anticipate increasing competition among non-U.S. aircraft manufacturers of commercial jet aircraft. In our BDS business, we anticipate that the effects of defense industry consolidation, shifting acquisition and budget priorities, and continued cost pressure at our U.S. DoD and non-U.S. customers will intensify competition for many of our BDS products. Our BGS segment faces competition from many of the same strong U.S. and non-U.S. competitors facing BCA and BDS. Furthermore, we are facing increased international competition and cross-border consolidation of competition. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully against our current or future competitors or that the competitive pressures we face will not result in reduced revenues and market share.
We derive a significant portion of our revenues from non-U.S. sales and are subject to the risks of doing business in other countries.
In 2020, non-U.S. customers, which includes foreign military sales (FMS), accounted for approximately 37% of our revenues. We expect that non-U.S. sales will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenues for the foreseeable future. As a result, we are subject to risks of doing business internationally, including:
•changes in regulatory requirements;
•changes in the global trade environment, including disputes with authorities in non-U.S. jurisdictions, including international trade authorities, that could impact sales and/or delivery of products and services outside the U.S. and/or impose costs on our customers in the form of tariffs, duties, or penalties attributable to the importation of Boeing products and services;
•U.S. and non-U.S. government policies, including requirements to expend a portion of program funds locally and governmental industrial cooperation or participation requirements;
•fluctuations in international currency exchange rates;
•volatility in international political and economic environments and changes in non-U.S. national priorities and budgets, which can lead to delays or fluctuations in orders;
•the complexity and necessity of using non-U.S. representatives and consultants;
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•the uncertainty of the ability of non-U.S. customers to finance purchases, including the availability of financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States;
•uncertainties and restrictions concerning the availability of funding credit or guarantees;
•imposition of domestic and international taxes, export controls, tariffs, embargoes, sanctions and other trade restrictions;
•the difficulty of management and operation of an enterprise spread over many countries;
•compliance with a variety of non-U.S. laws, as well as U.S. laws affecting the activities of U.S. companies abroad; and
•unforeseen developments and conditions, including terrorism, war, epidemics and international tensions and conflicts.
While the impact of these factors is difficult to predict, any one or more of these factors could adversely affect our operations in the future. For example, since 2018, the U.S. and China have imposed tariffs on each other’s imports. China is a very significant market for commercial airplanes and represents a significant component of our commercial airplanes backlog. In addition, the U.S. and European Union (EU) have been engaged in two long-running disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) relating to large civil aircraft, including one that has resulted in the imposition of tariffs on certain of our products. Impacts from these or future potential tariffs, or deterioration in trade relations between the U.S. and one or more other countries, could have a material adverse impact on our revenues, operating earnings, and/or cash flows.
We use estimates in accounting for many contracts and programs. Changes in our estimates could adversely affect our future financial results.
Contract and program accounting require judgment relative to assessing risks, estimating revenues and costs and making assumptions for schedule and technical issues. Due to the size and nature of many of our contracts and programs, the estimation of total revenues and cost at completion is complicated and subject to many variables. Assumptions have to be made regarding the length of time to complete the contract or program because costs also include expected increases in wages and employee benefits, material prices and allocated fixed costs. Incentives or penalties related to performance on contracts are considered in estimating sales and profit rates, and are recorded when there is sufficient information for us to assess anticipated performance. Supplier claims and assertions are also assessed and considered in estimating costs and profit rates. Estimates of future award fees are also included in sales and profit rates.
With respect to each of our commercial aircraft programs, inventoriable production costs (including overhead), program tooling and other non-recurring costs and routine warranty costs are accumulated and charged as cost of sales by program instead of by individual units or contracts. A program consists of the estimated number of units (accounting quantity) of a product to be produced in a continuing, long-term production effort for delivery under existing and anticipated contracts limited by the ability to make reasonably dependable estimates. To establish the relationship of sales to cost of sales, program accounting requires estimates of (a) the number of units to be produced and sold in a program, (b) the period over which the units can reasonably be expected to be produced and (c) the units’ expected sales prices, production costs, program tooling and other non-recurring costs, and routine warranty costs for the total program. Several factors determine accounting quantity, including firm orders, letters of intent from prospective customers and market studies. Changes to customer or model mix, production costs and rates, learning curve, changes to price escalation indices, costs of derivative aircraft, supplier performance, customer and supplier negotiations/settlements, supplier claims and/or certification issues can impact these estimates. In addition, on development programs such as the 777X, we are subject to risks with respect to the timing and conditions of aircraft certification, including potential gaps between when aircraft are certified in various jurisdictions, and our estimates with
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respect to timing of future certifications could have an impact on overall program status. Any such change in estimates relating to program accounting may adversely affect future financial performance.
Because of the significance of the judgments and estimation processes described above, materially different sales and profit amounts could be recorded if we used different assumptions or if the underlying circumstances were to change. Changes in underlying assumptions, circumstances or estimates may adversely affect future period financial performance. For additional information on our accounting policies for recognizing sales and profits, see our discussion under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis – Critical Accounting Policies – Contract Accounting/Program Accounting” on pages 53 – 55 and Note 1 to our Consolidated Financial Statements on pages 68 – 81 of this Form 10-K.
We may not realize the anticipated benefits of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures/strategic alliances or divestitures.
As part of our business strategy, we may merge with or acquire businesses and/or form joint ventures and strategic alliances. Whether we realize the anticipated benefits from these acquisitions and related activities depends, in part, upon our ability to integrate the operations of the acquired business, the performance of the underlying product and service portfolio, and the performance of the management team and other personnel of the acquired operations. Accordingly, our financial results could be adversely affected by unanticipated performance issues, legacy liabilities, transaction-related charges, amortization of expenses related to intangibles, charges for impairment of long-term assets, credit guarantees, partner performance and indemnifications. Consolidations of joint ventures could also impact our reported results of operations or financial position. While we believe that we have established appropriate and adequate procedures and processes to mitigate these risks, there is no assurance that these transactions will be successful. We also may make strategic divestitures from time to time. These transactions may result in continued financial involvement in the divested businesses, such as through guarantees or other financial arrangements, following the transaction. Nonperformance by those divested businesses could affect our future financial results through additional payment obligations, higher costs or asset write-downs.
Risks Related to Our Contracts
We conduct a significant portion of our business pursuant to U.S. government contracts, which are subject to unique risks.
In 2020, 51% of our revenues were earned pursuant to U.S. government contracts, which include FMS through the U.S. government. Business conducted pursuant to such contracts is subject to extensive procurement regulations and other unique risks.
Our sales to the U.S. government are subject to extensive procurement regulations, and changes to those regulations could increase our costs. New procurement regulations, or changes to existing requirements, could increase our compliance costs or otherwise have a material impact on the operating margins of our BDS and BGS businesses. These requirements may result in increased compliance costs, and we could be subject to additional costs in the form of withheld payments and/or reduced future business if we fail to comply with these requirements in the future. Compliance costs attributable to current and potential future procurement regulations such as these could negatively impact our financial condition and operating results.
The U.S. government may modify, curtail or terminate one or more of our contracts. The U.S. government contracting party may modify, curtail or terminate its contracts and subcontracts with us, without prior notice and either at its convenience or for default based on performance. In addition, funding pursuant to our U.S. government contracts may be reduced or withheld as part of the U.S.
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Congressional appropriations process due to fiscal constraints, changes in U.S. national security strategy and/or priorities or other reasons. Further uncertainty with respect to ongoing programs could also result in the event that the U.S. government finances its operations through temporary funding measures such as “continuing resolutions” rather than full-year appropriations. Any loss or anticipated loss or reduction of expected funding and/or modification, curtailment, or termination of one or more large programs could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, cash flow and/or financial position.
We are subject to U.S. government inquiries and investigations, including periodic audits of costs that we determine are reimbursable under U.S. government contracts. U.S. government agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency, routinely audit government contractors. These agencies review our performance under contracts, cost structure and compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards, as well as the adequacy of and our compliance with our internal control systems and policies. Any costs found to be misclassified or inaccurately allocated to a specific contract will be deemed non-reimbursable, and to the extent already reimbursed, must be refunded. Any inadequacies in our systems and policies could result in withholds on billed receivables, penalties and reduced future business. Furthermore, if any audit, inquiry or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we could be subject to civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines, and suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. We also could suffer reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us, even if such allegations are later determined to be false.
We enter into fixed-price contracts which could subject us to losses if we have cost overruns.
Our BDS and BGS defense businesses generated approximately 69% and 72% of their 2020 revenues from fixed-price contracts. While fixed-price contracts enable us to benefit from performance improvements, cost reductions and efficiencies, they also subject us to the risk of reduced margins or incurring losses if we are unable to achieve estimated costs and revenues. If our estimated costs exceed our estimated price, we recognize reach-forward losses which can significantly affect our reported results. For example in 2020, we recorded additional reach-forward losses of $1,320 million on the KC-46A Tanker contract reflecting $551 million of costs associated with the agreement signed in April 2020 with the U.S. Air Force to develop and integrate a new Remote Vision System, and the remaining costs reflect production inefficiencies including impacts of COVID-19 disruption. New programs could also have risk for reach-forward loss upon contract award and during the period of contract performance. For example, in 2018, in connection with winning the T-7A Red Hawk and MQ-25 competitions, we recorded a loss of $400 million associated with options for 346 T-7A Red Hawk aircraft and a loss of $291 million related to the MQ-25 Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) contract. The long term nature of many of our contracts makes the process of estimating costs and revenues on fixed-price contracts inherently risky. Fixed-price contracts often contain price incentives and penalties tied to performance which can be difficult to estimate and have significant impacts on margins. In addition, some of our contracts have specific provisions relating to cost, schedule and performance.
Fixed-price development contracts are generally subject to more uncertainty than fixed-price production contracts. Many of these development programs have highly complex designs. In addition, technical or quality issues that arise during development could lead to schedule delays and higher costs to complete, which could result in a material charge or otherwise adversely affect our financial condition. Examples of significant BDS fixed-price development contracts include Commercial Crew, KC-46A Tanker, T-7A Red Hawk, VC-25B Presidential Aircraft, MQ-25, and commercial and military satellites.
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We enter into cost-type contracts which also carry risks.
Our BDS and BGS defense businesses generated approximately 31% and 28% of their 2020 revenues from cost-type contracting arrangements. Some of these are development programs that have complex design and technical challenges. These cost-type programs typically have award or incentive fees that are subject to uncertainty and may be earned over extended periods. In these cases the associated financial risks are primarily in reduced fees, lower profit rates or program cancellation if cost, schedule or technical performance issues arise. Programs whose contracts are primarily cost-type include Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Proprietary and SLS programs.
We enter into contracts that include in-orbit incentive payments that subject us to risks.
Contracts in the commercial satellite industry and certain government satellite contracts include in-orbit incentive payments. These in-orbit payments may be paid over time after final satellite acceptance or paid in full prior to final satellite acceptance. In both cases, the in-orbit incentive payment is at risk if the satellite does not perform to specifications for up to 15 years after acceptance. The net present value of in-orbit incentive fees we ultimately expect to realize is recognized as revenue in the construction period. If the satellite fails to meet contractual performance criteria, customers will not be obligated to continue making in-orbit payments and/or we may be required to provide refunds to the customer and incur significant charges.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Business Disruptions
Unauthorized access to our or our customers’ information and systems could negatively impact our business.
We face certain security threats, including threats to the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our data and systems. We maintain an extensive network of technical security controls, policy enforcement mechanisms, monitoring systems and management oversight in order to address these threats. While these measures are designed to prevent, detect and respond to unauthorized activity in our systems, certain types of attacks, including cyber-attacks, could result in significant financial or information losses and/or reputational harm. In addition, we manage information and information technology systems for certain customers. Many of these customers face similar security threats. If we cannot prevent the unauthorized access, release and/or corruption of our customers’ confidential, classified or personally identifiable information, our reputation could be damaged, and/or we could face financial losses.
Business disruptions could seriously affect our future sales and financial condition or increase our costs and expenses.
Our business may be impacted by disruptions including threats to physical security, information technology or cyber-attacks or failures, damaging weather or other acts of nature and pandemics or other public health crises. Any of these disruptions could affect our internal operations or our ability to deliver products and services to our customers. Any significant production delays, or any destruction, manipulation or improper use of our data, information systems or networks could impact our sales, increase our expenses and/or have an adverse effect on the reputation of Boeing and of our products and services.
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Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
The outcome of litigation and of government inquiries and investigations involving our business is unpredictable and an adverse decision in any such matter could have a material effect on our financial position and results of operations.
We are involved in a number of litigation matters. These matters may divert financial and management resources that would otherwise be used to benefit our operations. No assurances can be given that the results of these matters will be favorable to us. An adverse resolution of any of these lawsuits, or future lawsuits, could have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations. In addition, we are subject to extensive regulation under the laws of the United States and its various states, as well as other jurisdictions in which we operate. As a result, we are sometimes subject to government inquiries and investigations of our business due, among other things, to our business relationships with the U.S. government, the heavily regulated nature of our industry, and in the case of environmental proceedings, our current or past ownership of certain property. Any such inquiry or investigation could potentially result in an adverse ruling against us, which could have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations.
Our operations expose us to the risk of material environmental liabilities.
We are subject to various U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. laws and regulations related to environmental protection, including the discharge, treatment, storage, disposal and remediation of hazardous substances and wastes. We could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, as well as third-party claims for property damage or personal injury, if we were to violate or become liable under environmental laws or regulations. In some cases, we may be subject to such costs due to environmental impacts attributable to our current or past manufacturing operations or the operations of companies we have acquired. In other cases, we may become subject to such costs due to an indemnification agreement between us and a third party relating to such environmental liabilities. In addition, new laws and regulations, more stringent enforcement of existing laws and regulations, the discovery of previously unknown contamination or the imposition of new remediation requirements could result in additional costs. For additional information relating to environmental contingencies, see Note 13 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.
Risks Related to Financing and Liquidity
We may be unable to obtain debt to fund our operations and contractual commitments at competitive rates, on commercially reasonable terms or in sufficient amounts.
We depend, in part, upon the issuance of debt to fund our operations and contractual commitments. In addition, our debt balances have increased significantly since 2019, driven primarily by impacts related to the 737 MAX grounding and the COVID-19 pandemic, and we expect to continue to actively manage our liquidity. Our increased debt balance has also resulted in downgrades to our credit ratings. As of December 31, 2020, our debt totaled $63.6 billion of which approximately $20.4 billion of principal payments on outstanding debt become due over the next three years. In addition, as of December 31, 2020, our airplane financing commitments totaled $11,512 million. If we require additional funding in order to pay off existing debt, address further impacts to our business related to the 737 MAX, COVID-19, or broader market developments, fund outstanding financing commitments or meet other business requirements, our market liquidity may not be sufficient. These risks will be particularly acute if we are subject to further credit rating downgrades. A number of factors could cause us to incur increased borrowing costs and to have greater difficulty accessing public and private markets for debt. These factors include disruptions or declines in the global capital markets and/or a decline in our financial performance, outlook or credit ratings, including impacts described above related to the
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COVID-19 pandemic and/or associated changes in demand for our products and services. The occurrence of any or all of these events may adversely affect our ability to fund our operations and contractual or financing commitments.
Substantial pension and other postretirement benefit obligations have a material impact on our earnings, shareholders’ equity and cash flows from operations, and could have significant adverse impacts in future periods.
Many of our employees have earned benefits under defined benefit pension plans. Potential pension contributions include both mandatory amounts required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and discretionary contributions to improve the plans' funded status. The extent of future contributions depends heavily on market factors such as the discount rate and the actual return on plan assets. We estimate future contributions to these plans using assumptions with respect to these and other items. Changes to those assumptions could have a significant effect on future contributions as well as on our annual pension costs and/or result in a significant change to shareholders' equity. For U.S. government contracts, we allocate pension costs to individual contracts based on U.S. Cost Accounting Standards which can also affect contract profitability. We also provide other postretirement benefits to certain of our employees, consisting principally of health care coverage for eligible retirees and qualifying dependents. Our estimates of future costs associated with these benefits are also subject to assumptions, including estimates of the level of medical cost increases. For a discussion regarding how our financial statements can be affected by pension and other postretirement plan accounting policies, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis-Critical Accounting Policies-Pension Plans” on pages 57 - 58 of this Form 10-K. Although under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America (GAAP) the timing of periodic pension and other postretirement benefit expense and plan contributions are not directly related, the key economic factors that affect GAAP expense would also likely affect the amount of cash or stock we would contribute to our plans.
Our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover all significant risk exposures.
We are exposed to liabilities that are unique to the products and services we provide. We maintain insurance for certain risks and, in some circumstances, we may receive indemnification from the U.S. government. The amount of our insurance coverage may not cover all claims or liabilities and we may be forced to bear substantial costs. For example, liabilities arising from the use of certain of our products, such as aircraft technologies, space systems, spacecraft, satellites, missile systems, weapons, cyber security, border security systems, anti-terrorism technologies, and/or air traffic management systems may not be insurable on commercially reasonable terms. While some of these products are shielded from liability within the U.S. under the SAFETY Act provisions of the 2002 Homeland Security Act, no such protection is available outside the U.S., potentially resulting in significant liabilities. The amount of insurance coverage we maintain may be inadequate to cover these or other claims or liabilities.
A significant portion of our customer financing portfolio is concentrated among certain customers and in certain types of Boeing aircraft, which exposes us to concentration risks.
A significant portion of our customer financing portfolio is concentrated among certain customers and in distinct geographic regions. Our portfolio is also concentrated by varying degrees across Boeing aircraft product types, most notably 717 and 747-8 aircraft, and among customers that we believe have less than investment-grade credit. If one or more customers holding a significant portion of our portfolio assets experiences financial difficulties or otherwise defaults on or does not renew its leases with us at their expiration, and we are unable to redeploy the aircraft on reasonable terms, or if the types of
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aircraft that are concentrated in our portfolio suffer greater than expected declines in value, our earnings, cash flows and/or financial position could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Labor
Some of our and our suppliers’ workforces are represented by labor unions, which may lead to work stoppages.
Approximately 47,000 employees, which constitute 33% of our total workforce, were union represented as of December 31, 2020. We experienced a work stoppage in 2008 when a labor strike halted commercial aircraft and certain BDS program production. We may experience additional work stoppages in the future, which could adversely affect our business. We cannot predict how stable our relationships, currently with 10 U.S. labor organizations and 12 non-U.S. labor organizations, will be or whether we will be able to meet the unions’ requirements without impacting our financial condition. The unions may also limit our flexibility in dealing with our workforce. Union actions at suppliers can also affect us. Work stoppages and instability in our union relationships could delay the production and/or development of our products, which could strain relationships with customers and cause a loss of revenues which would adversely affect our operations.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable
Item 2. Properties
We occupied approximately 86 million square feet of floor space on December 31, 2020 for manufacturing, warehousing, engineering, administration and other productive uses, of which approximately 93% was located in the United States. The following table provides a summary of the floor space by business as of December 31, 2020:
| (Square feet in thousands) | Owned | Leased | Government Owned(1) | Total | |||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial Airplanes | 40,444 | 2,303 | 42,747 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense, Space & Security | 23,109 | 6,335 | 29,444 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Global Services | 683 | 7,303 | 348 | 8,334 | |||||||||||||||||||
Other(2) | 2,385 | 2,343 | 318 | 5,046 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 66,621 | 18,284 | 666 | 85,571 | |||||||||||||||||||
(1) Excludes rent-free space furnished by U.S. government landlord of 49 square feet.
(2) Other includes sites used for BCC, common internal services and our Corporate Headquarters.
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At December 31, 2020, we occupied in excess of 77.4 million square feet of floor space at the following major locations:
•Commercial Airplanes – Greater Seattle, WA; Charleston, SC; Portland, OR; Greater Los Angeles, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Canada; and Australia
•Defense, Space & Security – Greater St. Louis, MO; Greater Seattle, WA; Greater Los Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Mesa, AZ; Huntsville, AL; Oklahoma City, OK; Heath, OH; Greater Washington, DC; Australia; and Houston, TX
•Global Services – San Antonio, TX; Greater Miami, FL; Dallas, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Germany; Mesa, AZ; and Greater Denver, CO
•Other – Chicago, IL; Greater Seattle, WA; Greater Los Angeles, CA ; Greater St. Louis, MO; and Greater Washington, DC.
Most runways and taxiways that we use are located on airport properties owned by others and are used jointly with others. Our rights to use such facilities are provided for under long-term leases with municipal, county or other government authorities. In addition, the U.S. government furnishes us certain office space, installations and equipment at U.S. government bases for use in connection with various contract activities.
To support business needs, property requirements are being evaluated to align with previously announced staffing reductions, utilization studies, and strategic growth investments to optimize footprint.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Currently, we are involved in a number of legal proceedings. For a discussion of contingencies related to legal proceedings, see Note 21 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The principal market for our common stock is the New York Stock Exchange where it trades under the symbol BA. As of January 25, 2021, there were 99,383 shareholders of record.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table provides information about purchases we made during the quarter ended December 31, 2020 of equity securities that are registered by us pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act:
(Dollars in millions, except per share data)
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total Number of Shares Purchased(1) | Average Price Paid per Share | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs(2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 10/1/2020 thru 10/31/2020 | 4,707 | $168.15 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 11/1/2020 thru 11/30/2020 | 3,072 | 152.35 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/1/2020 thru 12/31/2020 | 16,683 | 212.42 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 24,462 | $196.36 | |||||||||||||||||||||
(1)A total of 24,385 shares were transferred to us from employees in satisfaction of minimum tax withholding obligations associated with the vesting of restricted stock units during the period. We did not purchase any shares of our common stock in the open market pursuant to our repurchase program. We purchased 77 shares in swap transactions.
(2)On March 21, 2020, the Board of Directors terminated its prior authorization to repurchase shares of the Company's outstanding common stock. Share repurchases under this plan had been suspended since April 2019.
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Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Five-Year Summary (Unaudited)
| (Dollars in millions, except per share data) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues | $58,158 | $76,559 | $101,127 | $94,005 | $93,496 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net (loss)/earnings | ($11,941) | ($636) | $10,460 | $8,458 | $5,034 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic (loss)/earnings per share | ($20.88) | ($1.12) | $18.05 | $14.03 | $7.92 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted (loss)/earnings per share | (20.88) | (1.12) | 17.85 | 13.85 | 7.83 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends declared per share (1) | — | 8.22 | 7.19 | 5.97 | 4.69 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $7,752 | $9,485 | $7,637 | $8,813 | $8,801 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Short-term and other investments | 17,838 | 545 | 927 | 1,179 | 1,228 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | 152,136 | 133,625 | 117,359 | 112,362 | 109,076 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total debt | 63,583 | 27,302 | 13,847 | 11,117 | 9,952 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating cash flow | ($18,410) | ($2,446) | $15,322 | $13,346 | $10,496 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investing cash flow | ($18,366) | ($1,530) | ($4,621) | ($2,058) | ($3,378) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financing cash flow | $34,955 | $5,739 | ($11,722) | ($11,350) | ($9,587) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total backlog | $363,404 | $463,403 | $490,481 | $474,640 | $473,492 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end workforce | 141,000 | 161,100 | 153,000 | 140,800 | 150,500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) In March 2020, the Board of Directors suspended the declaration and/or payment of cash dividends until further notice.
(2) 2016 Backlog does not reflect impact of the adoption of ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Consolidated Results of Operations and Financial Condition
Overview
We are a global market leader in the design, development, manufacture, sale, service and support of commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems and services. We are one of the two major manufacturers of 100+ seat airplanes for the worldwide commercial airline industry and one of the largest defense contractors in the U.S. While our principal operations are in the U.S., we conduct operations in an expanding number of countries and rely on an extensive network of non-U.S. partners, key suppliers and subcontractors.
Our strategy is centered on successful execution in healthy core businesses – Commercial Airplanes (BCA), Defense, Space & Security (BDS), and Global Services (BGS) – supplemented and supported by Boeing Capital (BCC). Taken together, these core businesses have historically generated substantial earnings and cash flow that permit us to invest in new products and services. We focus on producing the products and providing the services that the market demands, and continue to find new ways to improve efficiency and quality to provide a fair return for our shareholders. BCA is committed to being the leader in commercial aviation by offering airplanes and services that deliver superior design, safety, efficiency and value to customers around the world. BDS integrates its resources in defense, intelligence, communications, security, space and services to deliver capability-driven solutions to customers at reduced costs. Our BDS strategy is to leverage our core businesses to capture key next-generation programs while expanding our presence in adjacent and international markets, underscored by an intense focus on growth and productivity. BGS provides support for commercial and defense through innovative, comprehensive, and cost-competitive product and service solutions. BCC facilitates, arranges, structures and provides selective financing solutions for our Boeing customers.
Business Environment and Trends
The global outbreak of COVID-19 and the residual impacts of the 737 MAX grounding continue to have significant adverse impacts on our business and are expected to continue to negatively impact revenue, earnings and operating cash flow in future quarters. They are also having a significant impact on our liquidity - see Liquidity Matters in Note 1 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for a further discussion of liquidity and additional actions we are taking in response to these challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented shock to demand for air travel, creating a tremendous challenge for our customers, our business and the entire commercial aerospace manufacturing and services sector. Global economic growth, a primary driver for air travel, is expected to have declined to between -4% and -5% in 2020. The latest International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast projected full-year 2020 passenger traffic to be down more than 60% compared to 2019 as global economic activity slows due to COVID-19, and governments severely restricted travel to contain the spread of the virus. The recovery remains slow and uneven as travel restrictions and varying regional travel protocols continue to impact air travel. Generally, we expect domestic travel to recover faster than international travel. As a result, we expect the narrow-body market to recover faster than the wide-body market. Also, the pace of the commercial market recovery will be heavily dependent on COVID-19 infection rates, progress on testing, government travel restrictions, and timing and availability of a vaccine. Air cargo traffic levels contracted this year due to weak global trade growth and capacity limitations given the large impact that COVID-19 has had on international passenger operations, which also carry cargo. Demand for dedicated freighters is developing better relative to cargo traffic trends.
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Airline financial performance, which also plays a role in the demand for new capacity, has been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to IATA, net losses in 2020 for the airline industry are expected to be approximately $118 billion, compared to net profits of $26 billion in 2019. Our customers are taking actions to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market by preserving liquidity. This comes in many forms such as deferrals of advances and other payments to suppliers, deferrals of deliveries, reduced spending on services, and, in some cases, cancellation of orders. We face a challenging environment in the near to medium term as airlines adjust to reduced traffic which in turn will lower demand for commercial aerospace products and services. The current environment is also affecting the financial viability of some airlines.
We currently expect it will take approximately three years for world-wide travel to return to 2019 levels and a few years beyond that for the industry to return to long-term trend growth of approximately 5%. To balance the supply and demand given the COVID-19 shock and to preserve our long-term potential and competitiveness, we have reduced the production rates of several of our BCA programs. These rate decisions are based on our ongoing assessments of the demand environment and availability of aircraft financing. There is significant uncertainty with respect to when commercial air traffic levels will recover, and whether, and at what point, capacity will return to and/or exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. During the fourth quarter of 2020, we made adjustments to our estimates regarding timing of 777X entry into service and market demand. We now anticipate that the first 777X delivery will occur in late 2023. We will closely monitor the key factors that affect backlog and future demand including customers’ evolving fleet plans, the wide-body replacement cycle and the cargo market. We will maintain a disciplined rate management process, and make adjustments as appropriate in the future. Notwithstanding the changes we have made to production rates, risk remains that further reductions will be required. Additionally, if we are unable to make timely deliveries of the large number of aircraft in inventory as of December 31, 2020, future revenues, earnings and cash flows will be adversely impacted.
The long-term outlook for the industry remains positive due to the fundamental drivers of air travel demand: economic growth, increasing propensity to travel due to increased trade, globalization, and improved airline services driven by liberalization of air traffic rights between countries. The shock from COVID-19 has reduced the near to medium term demand, but our Commercial Market Outlook forecast projects a 4% growth rate for passenger and cargo traffic over a 20 year period. Based on long-term global economic growth projections of 2.5% average annual GDP growth, we project demand for approximately 43,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years. The industry remains vulnerable to exogenous developments including fuel price spikes, credit market shocks, acts of terrorism, natural disasters, conflicts, epidemics, pandemics and increased global environmental regulations.
Deliveries of the 737 MAX resumed in the fourth quarter of 2020, when the FAA rescinded the order that grounded 737 MAX aircraft in the U.S. Orders to suspend operations of 737 MAX aircraft from certain non-U.S. civil aviation authorities, including the Civil Aviation Administration of China, are still in effect. The grounding has had a significant adverse impact on our operations and creates significant uncertainty. We are focused on safely returning the 737 MAX to service for all of our customers.
At BGS, we are seeing a direct impact on our commercial supply chain business as fewer flights and more aircraft retirements result in a decreased demand for our parts and logistics offerings. Additionally, our commercial customers are curtailing discretionary spending, such as modifications and upgrades and focusing on required maintenance. Similar to BCA, we expect a multi-year recovery period for the commercial services business. The demand outlook for our government services business, which in 2019 accounted for just under half of BGS revenue, remains stable.
At BDS, we continue to see a healthy market with solid demand for our major platforms and programs both domestically and internationally. However, we experienced near-term production impacts associated with our temporary suspension of operations at various locations in 2020 .
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In March and April of 2020, as a result of COVID-19, we temporarily suspended operations at multiple locations including the Puget Sound area, South Carolina and Philadelphia. Operations in Puget Sound and Philadelphia resumed during the week of April 20, while operations in South Carolina resumed beginning on May 3. We have implemented procedures to promote employee safety in our facilities, including more frequent and enhanced cleaning and adjusted schedules and work flows to support physical distancing. These actions have resulted, and will continue to result, in increased operating costs. In addition, a number of our suppliers have suspended or otherwise reduced their operations, and we are experiencing some supply chain shortages. Our suppliers are also experiencing liquidity pressures and disruptions to their operations as a result of COVID-19. We also continue to have large numbers of employees working from home. These measures and disruptions have reduced overall productivity and adversely impacted our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows in 2020. We expect further adverse impacts in future quarters.
In July 2020, we announced our business transformation efforts to assess our business across five key pillars – infrastructure, overhead and organization, portfolio and investments, supply chain health and operational excellence. We continue to make progress across all five key pillars as we utilize a lower production rate environment to transform and improve our business processes. Within the infrastructure pillar we are assessing our overall facility requirements in light of reduced demand in our commercial businesses and remote and virtual work opportunities for large numbers of our workforce. The consolidation of the 787 production in South Carolina is an example of this. We also anticipate a reduction of approximately 30% in office space needs compared to our current capacity. During 2020, we made certain reductions to our footprint and are planning to implement further reductions over the next few years. However, as we consolidate our footprint, we may incur near term adverse impacts to earnings. The overhead and organization pillar is focused on our cost structure and how we are organized so we can right size our workforce and simplify and reduce management layers and bureaucracy. During 2020, we recorded severance costs for approximately 26,000 employees, of which approximately 18,000 have left the Company as of December 31, 2020, and the remainder are expected to leave in 2021. The portfolio and investments pillar includes aligning our portfolio and investments to focus on our core business and the changes in market conditions. Through our portfolio and investment prioritization, we reduced research and development and capital expenditures during 2020 by $1.3 billion from the prior year. The supply chain pillar is focused on supply chain health and stability, reducing indirect procurement spend and streamlining our transportation, logistics and warehousing approach. We reduced indirect spend in 2020, by reducing expenditures in areas such as freight and logistics, purchased services and others. The operational excellence pillar is focused on improving performance, enhancing quality and reducing rework. For example, our information technology teams are evaluating opportunities to form or expand strategic partnerships with vendors that allow us to simplify and optimize our operations, and reduce overall costs. These activities are not intended to constrain our capacity, but to enable the Company to emerge stronger and be more resilient when the market recovers. We expect that successful execution of these measures will improve near term liquidity and long term cost competitiveness.
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Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table summarizes key indicators of consolidated results of operations:
| (Dollars in millions, except per share data) | |||||||||||||||||
| Years ended December 31, | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Revenues | $58,158 | $76,559 | $101,127 | ||||||||||||||
| GAAP | |||||||||||||||||
| (Loss)/earnings from operations | ($12,767) | ($1,975) | $11,987 | ||||||||||||||
| Operating margins | (22.0) | % | (2.6) | % | 11.9 | % | |||||||||||
| Effective income tax rate | 17.5 | % | 71.8 | % | 9.9 | % | |||||||||||
| Net (loss)/earnings attributable to Boeing Shareholders | ($11,873) | ($636) | $10,460 | ||||||||||||||
| Diluted (loss)/earnings per share | ($20.88) | ($1.12) | $17.85 | ||||||||||||||
Non-GAAP (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| Core operating (loss)/earnings | ($14,150) | ($3,390) | $10,660 | ||||||||||||||
| Core operating margins | (24.3 | %) | (4.4 | %) | 10.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Core (loss)/earnings per share | ($23.25) | ($3.47) | $16.01 | ||||||||||||||
(1)These measures exclude certain components of pension and other postretirement benefit expense. See pages 51 - 52 for important information about these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures.
Revenues
The following table summarizes Revenues:
| (Dollars in millions) | |||||||||||||||||
| Years ended December 31, | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Commercial Airplanes | $16,162 | $32,255 | $57,499 | ||||||||||||||
| Defense, Space & Security | 26,257 | 26,095 | 26,300 | ||||||||||||||
| Global Services | 15,543 | 18,468 | 17,056 | ||||||||||||||
| Boeing Capital | 261 | 244 | 274 | ||||||||||||||
| Unallocated items, eliminations and other | (65) | (503) | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | $58,158 | $76,559 | $101,127 | ||||||||||||||
Revenues decreased by $18,401 million in 2020 compared with 2019 primarily due to lower revenues in our commercial airplanes and commercial services businesses. Revenues for each of our segments have been adversely impacted by COVID-19. BCA revenues decreased by $16,093 million due to lower deliveries driven by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, 787 production issues, and the 737 MAX grounding, offset by lower charges related to estimated potential concessions and other considerations to 737 MAX customers. BDS revenues increased by $162 million primarily due to higher fighter aircraft and other volume, partially offset by the impact of higher unfavorable cumulative contract catch-up adjustments, largely due to the KC-46A Tanker charges in 2020. BGS revenues decreased by $2,925 million primarily due to lower commercial services revenue driven by impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes in Unallocated items, eliminations and other primarily reflect the timing of eliminations for intercompany aircraft deliveries, as well as reserves related to cost accounting litigation recorded in 2019. We expect the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to significantly impact revenues in future quarters until the commercial airline industry recovers.
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Revenues decreased by $24,568 million in 2019 compared with 2018 primarily due to lower revenues at BCA, partially offset by higher revenues at BGS. Lower BCA revenues are primarily driven by lower 737 MAX deliveries and a revenue reduction of $8,259 million recorded in 2019 for estimated potential concessions and other considerations to customers for disruptions and associated delivery delays related to the 737 MAX grounding, net of insurance recoveries. The changes in Unallocated items, eliminations and other primarily reflect the timing of eliminations for intercompany aircraft deliveries and the sale of aircraft previously leased to customers.
Loss/Earnings From Operations
The following table summarizes (Loss)/earnings from operations:
| (Dollars in millions) | |||||||||||||||||
| Years ended December 31, | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Commercial Airplanes | ($13,847) | ($6,657) | $7,830 | ||||||||||||||
| Defense, Space & Security | 1,539 | ||||||||||||||||