New York, Jan 29, 2026, 19:57 EST — After-hours
- Boeing shares slid 3.1% in Thursday’s regular session and were little changed after the bell.
- Air India ordered 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets and converted part of an Airbus order to the longer-range A321XLR.
- Traders are weighing Boeing’s cash-flow push against certification and production risks heading into February’s airshow circuit.
Boeing stock closed down 3.1% on Thursday at $234.04, and was little changed in after-hours trade, after a fresh 737 MAX order from Air India failed to shift the mood. The shares traded between $233.37 and $243.73 during the session.
The order lands at a tense moment for Boeing, which is trying to turn higher jet output into cash after years of delays and quality scares. The stock has moved less on headline orders lately and more on whether deliveries keep climbing — and whether regulators sign off on long-delayed variants.
Thursday’s pullback also came in a market that was not in the mood to pay up for anything cyclical. The S&P 500 slipped 0.13% and the Nasdaq fell 0.72% after a sharp drop in Microsoft weighed on tech, Reuters reported. 1
Air India said it would buy 20 737 MAX 8s and 10 737 MAX 10s, taking its total orders with Boeing to 250 aircraft. The airline also converted part of its Airbus A321neo order to 15 long-range A321XLR jets, with Airbus expecting deliveries of those between 2029 and 2030. 2
Boeing said the Air India deal exercises existing options, and that 10 of the MAX 10s had previously appeared as “unidentified” on its orders and deliveries website. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the order “supports steady deliveries and fleet upgrades” over the next few years. 3
The planemaker is coming off quarterly results in which it booked a headline profit that leaned heavily on asset-sale gains. Boeing reported fourth-quarter revenue of $23.9 billion and said free cash flow — cash left after operating costs and capital spending — was about $0.4 billion. CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company “made significant progress on our recovery in 2025.” 4
Still, the quarter also reminded investors where the work is. Boeing’s two biggest units stayed in the red and it booked a $565 million charge tied to the KC-46 tanker program, while CFO Jay Malave told analysts he expects $1 billion to $3 billion of positive free cash flow in 2026, depending in part on aircraft certification timing. “The quarterly results served as a reminder of the complications of managing this business,” Third Bridge analyst Peter McNally wrote. 5
India has become a bright spot for both Boeing and Airbus — and a battleground. Boeing this week forecast India and South Asia will add 3,290 commercial jets over the next 20 years, up from its prior estimate of 2,835, and said the region’s growth is being driven by economic expansion and new flyers. “What India is doing is exactly the opposite,” Boeing’s Ashwin Naidu said, contrasting growth markets with mature markets focused on replacement. 6
For Boeing bulls, the near-term case still reads like a checklist: keep the 737 line stable, lift 787 output, and get the MAX 7, MAX 10 and 777X through the remaining certification gates. Orders help, but deliveries pay the bills.
The downside is that the same bottlenecks keep showing up. Boeing has also flagged a durability issue tied to GE Aerospace’s GE9X engines on the 777-9, though Ortberg said the company does not expect it to push out planned 2027 deliveries, FlightGlobal reported. 7
Next up, investors will look for any new order headlines and production signals as the industry heads into the Singapore Airshow, scheduled for Feb. 3–8. 8
