Boeing delivered 44 airplanes in February, remaining steady with its January delivery rate and outpacing the first two months of 2024.

This time last year, Boeing was reeling from a midair blowout on a 737 Max 9 that led the company to slow production across the board as it took stock of its quality and safety practices. It has spent the year since preparing to ramp back up and is starting to see progress.

In January, Boeing recorded 45 deliveries, the highest monthly total since December 2023, the month before the panel blowout that slowed everything down in January 2024.

In the first two months of the year, Boeing made 89 deliveries, compared with 54 in 2024, according to company data released Tuesday.

Of those 44 deliveries last month, 32 planes were part of the Renton-built 737 family, including 31 737 Max jets. That’s a decrease from January, which recorded 40 Max deliveries. Boeing also delivered one older model 737 to its defense division in February.

Boeing doesn’t disclose how many of those deliveries rolled off the production line each month, versus how many had been mostly completed already. That monthly rate of production is crucial to gauge Boeing’s recovery following the panel blowout and whether the company is nearing the Federal Aviation Administration’s production cap of 38 737s per month. Boeing executives are confident it will reach that threshold this year and seek FAA’s approval to continue increasing production.

In the widebody market, Boeing delivered five 787s and five 767s in February. Those deliveries included a 767 freighter each for FedEx and UPS, as well as three 767s to Boeing’s defense division for the KC-46 tanker program.

The company also delivered two 777 freighters last month, both to Chinese airlines.

So far this year, Boeing has delivered 72 737s, nine 787s, five 767s and three 777s.

For the second month in a row, Boeing surpassed its European-rival Airbus, which delivered 40 planes in February and 65 in the first two months of the year.

The two manufacturers were closely aligned on orders last month. Airbus booked 14 gross orders, while Boeing booked 13. All of Boeing’s orders were for the 737 Max.

Eight of those Boeing orders were from unidentified buyers, while five were from Singapore-based BOC Aviation, which will lease the planes to Arajet, an ultra-low-cost airline in the Dominican Republic.

The company’s commercial backlog dropped from 5,554 planes as of Jan. 31, to 5,528 planes at the end of February.

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