2 major airline CEOs have issued a clear message to Boeing in the past week: Do better

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said the ongoing strike at Boeing could impact 2025 deliveries.

The chiefs of two major airlines have a message for Boeing: Do better.

In the past week, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan and American Airlines chief Robert Isom have both talked about the challenges their airlines have faced with Boeing.

“Boeing has been a great partner for the whole 53 years of Southwest Airlines, but we need Boeing to be strong. We need Boeing to be better,” Jordan said in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Monday.

Jordan said Southwest had originally expected more than 80 plane deliveries from Boeing in 2024 but now will receive only 20. He added that while 2024 was especially tough, it’s been years since Boeing deliveries went as expected for the airline.

“With the strike lingering on, you know, it looks like 2025 could be affected as well,” he said.

“The heart of an airline is the flight schedule, and the flight schedule depends on getting your aircraft on time,” he added.

Jordan also said that Southwest, which exclusively uses Boeing aircraft, is “constantly reviewing” the market but is not actively looking into working with other plane manufacturers.

Southwest’s fleet consists of 228 Boeing 737 Max 8s, 381 Boeing 737-800s, and 207 Boeing 737-700s, according to aviation website FlightRadar24.

Jordan’s comments echo those Isom made last week.

“For Boeing — it’s just, I look forward to the day when they’re not just a distraction,” Isom said during a Thursday interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“We’ve been struggling with them for over the last five years,” Isom added.

Isom told CNBC that his company needs Boeing “to be strong” — and that he’s communicated that message to the planemaker’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg.

“At the end of the day, though, we need them to deliver quality aircraft on time, and I’ll be welcoming that phone call when Boeing says: ‘We’re going to do that,'” he added.

When contacted for comment, a Boeing spokesperson said the company has previously acknowledged delivery delays and that future deliveries are dependent on the strike being resolved.

Southwest reported earlier this year that it expected to receive around 20 Boeing 737 Max 8. The announcement followed a production slowdown at Boeing after a door plug blew off a Boeing jet during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Adding to the challenges at Boeing, employees have been on strike since mid-September, with analysts estimating the work stoppage is costing the company $50 million a day. The company reported a third-quarter net loss of $6.1 billion last week.

The crisis has made Boeing bleed cash. The manufacturer announced on Monday that it is offering 90 million common shares and about $5 billion worth of depositary shares for sale. Based on Friday’s closing share price of $155.01, the new offering is worth around $18.95 billion.

Its stock is down 40% year to date.

This month, Boeing made an SEC filing, saying it may sell up to $25 billion worth of securities, including bonds, new shares, and stock options.

That’s in addition to the $10 billion credit agreement it entered into with Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase, described in a regulatory filing on October 14.

Southwest did not respond to a request for comment from B-17.