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(Reuters) -Boeing Co Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said on Friday the U.S. planemaker has no current plans to tap equity markets, and signaled progress toward winning approval from U.S. air safety regulators to resume deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner.
“There is no plan for an equity raise,” Calhoun told a Bernstein conference. “I’m confident on the liquidity front. Cash flow is getting better every quarter. We’re at that stage now where we can start to quietly pay down debt.”
Calhoun also said Boeing (NYSE:BA) received a “clear” response letter from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding its certification package submission on the 787 Dreamliner, but there is always work to do post-application.
Clearing a swollen inventory of twin-aisled Dreamliners and its best-selling 737 MAX jets is vital to the U.S. planemaker’s ability to emerge from the overlapping pandemic and jet-safety crises, a task complicated by supply-chain bottlenecks and war in Ukraine.
Deliveries of the 787 have been halted for a year as Boeing worked through inspections and repairs in an industrial headache expected to cost about $5.5 billion. Boeing has more than 100 of the advanced composite twin-aisle jets parked in inventory, worth about $12.5 billion.
Reuters reported last month that the FAA told Boeing it needed to fill in some gaps in its submission.
Calhoun also said the company is working to achieve stability in production of its cash cow narrowbody, the 737 MAX, before it would entertain raising production rates.
Last month, Boeing said 737 MAX production and deliveries were hit by shortages of a particular wiring connector, as the industry grapples with broader supply chain disruptions worsened by war in Ukraine.
