Boeing Stock (NYSE:BA) Notches Up, Air India Talks Engine Maintenance

The Air India disaster is still unfolding, and new reports suggest that one of the key objections may be removed from the picture. And aerospace stock Boeing (BA) took a step up as the new reports hit, though what they mean going forward is perhaps more concerning. Boeing shares were up fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.

Easily, one of the biggest questions about the Air India disaster was “when were the engines maintained?” Because engine maintenance is, of course, a vital part of aircraft operation. Had the engines failed to be correctly maintained, then that would have taken a lot of the weight off of Boeing for responsibility here. But the maintenance records released suggest that Air India more than pulled its weight when it came to engine maintenance.

The reports noted that one of the two engines on the 787-8 Dreamliner that went down was serviced last in 2023. That might sound bad, but reports also noted that it was not scheduled for further maintenance until this December. Moreover, the other engine was brand new, installed back in March of this year. This combines to make an interesting picture so far; we know that the plane’s ram air turbine had been deployed—whether automatically or manually—which suggests a loss of power somewhere along the line.

Globemaster Comeback?

One product that Boeing has not made in years is the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Boeing has not delivered one of these in 10 years, reports note, but there may be plans in the works to bring this cargo-carrying workhorse back into play.

As it turns out, reports from this year’s Paris Air Show—despite Boeing’s muted presence there in the wake of the aforementioned air disaster—say that there is a growing interest in the Globemaster, or at least, whatever was supposed to take its place. Boeing actually had no plan to replace it, reports noted, but given the growing interest in a military cargo aircraft like this, Boeing may go ahead and set up just such a replacement to meet market demand.

Is Boeing a Good Stock to Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 16 Buys, three Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 11.96% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $221.56 per share implies 11.45% upside potential.

See more BA analyst ratings

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