Boeing cuts its 4Q loss to $30 million, but that was before one of its jets lost a panel in flight

Boeing narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to $30 million and bumped up production of its best-selling plane just before one of them suffered a blowout of a side panel during a flight, an accident that has raised new safety concerns about the aircraft manufacturer.

The loss reported Wednesday was smaller than Wall Street expected, and revenue beat forecasts.

However, the company declined to offer its own forecast of 2024 results — an indication of the uncertainty swirling around Boeing since a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a midflight blowout of a panel called a door plug on Jan. 5.

CEO David Calhoun said the company's focus is on improving quality, and he repeated a promise to help airline customers and “work transparently” with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating quality-control issues at Boeing and its suppliers.

The results were an improvement from a loss of $663 million in the fourth quarter a year earlier. Boeing said that excluding one-time items, it lost 47 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 78 cents per share.

Revenue rose 10% to $22.02 billion, topping analysts' prediction of $21.18 billion. Boeing said that at the end of last year, it hit its target of producing 38 737s a month.