Yahoo Finance Boeing Company (The) (BA) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
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Boeing Company (The) (NYSE: BA)
Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call
July 25, 2018, 10:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
Prepared Remarks
Questions and Answers
Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to The Boeing Company's Second Quarter of 2018 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. The management discussion and slide presentation, plus the analyst and media question-and-answer sessions, are being broadcast live over the Internet.
At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I am turning the call over to Ms. Maurita Sutedja, Vice President of Investor Relations for The Boeing Company. Ms. Sutedja, lease go ahead.
Maurita B. Sutedja -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to Boeing's Second Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. I am Maurita Sutedja, and with me today is Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and Greg Smith, Boeing's Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy.
After management comments, we will take your questions. In fairness to others on the call, we ask that you limit yourself to one question. We have provided detailed financial information in today's press release and you can follow the broadcast and presentation through our website at boeing.com.
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Before we begin, I need to remind you that any projections and goals in our discussion today are likely to involve risks which is detailed in our news release, various SEC filings and the forward-looking statement disclaimer in the presentation. In addition, we refer you to our earnings release and presentation for disclosures and reconciliation of non-GAAP measures that we use when discussing our results and outlook.
Now, I will turn the call over to Dennis Muilenburg.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Maurita, and good morning. Let me begin today with a brief overview of our second quarter operating performance, followed by an update on the business environment and our expectations going forward. After that, Greg will walk you through the details of our financial results and outlook.
With that, let's move to Slide 2. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of employees throughout our company, Boeing delivered strong second quarter 2018 financial results that included higher revenue and earnings and strong operating cash flow, driven by solid execution across the company. During the quarter, we generated $4.7 billion of operating cash and repurchased $3.0 billion of Boeing stock. We also paid $1.0 billion in dividends, reflecting a 20% increase in dividends per share from last year.
We continued to deliver on our commitments of returning cash to shareholders while investing in our people, innovation, and future growth. Revenue in the second quarter was $24.3 billion , reflecting higher volume of commercial deliveries and favorable mix, along with services and defense contract volume. Core earnings per share of $3.33 was driven by strong performance across the businesses, volume and mix, and lower tax rate, partially offset by a write-off due to the previously announced Spirit litigation outcome and cost growth on the KC-46 Tanker program, which I'll address shortly
For the full year, we are raising guidance for revenue, to reflect higher volume at BDS and BGS. Additionally, we are adjusting BCA and BDS segment operating margin guidance. Greg will discuss these in more detail in his section.
Before we delve into the second quarter operating performance for our businesses, let me spend a minute on the KC-46 Tanker program. We continue to make steady progress toward final certification for the KC Tanker and recently completed all flight tests required to deliver the first aircraft, which is expected to be in October of this year, as now agreed upon with the U.S. Air Force. This is a significant milestone for us and our customer, representing the culmination of three years of testing and over 3,300 flight hours.
However, the program did see additional cost growth in the quarter of $334 million after tax, primarily due to higher estimated costs of incorporating changes into six flight tests and two early build aircraft, as well as additional costs as we progress through the last stage testing and certification process. Regarding these flight tests and early build aircraft, as flight testing to support the first delivery was completed and final configuration of each aircraft has been defined, the plan to complete manufacturing of these eight aircraft is now clear and firmed up.
While there is still a lot of work ahead of us, we now have a very clear line of sight on what is needed to deliver these highly mission capable aircraft to our customers. We remain confident in the long-term value of this franchise, a program that's going to have a production run measured in hundreds of airplanes and decades of follow-on support and training.
With that, now let's look at Commercial Airplanes. For the quarter, Commercial Airplanes generated revenue of $14.5 billion, reflecting 194 deliveries with operating margins of 11.4%. Continued healthy sales activity contributed to 239 net new airplane orders worth $16 billion during the quarter, including 91 wide-body orders, adding to our robust backlog that stands at more than 5,900 airplanes and is worth $416 billion. Year-to-date, we have captured over 900 net new orders and commitments.
The 737 MAZ program marked its one-year anniversary of entering revenue flight service in the quarter, and its production ramp up continued. To date, we have delivered 163 MAXs, with 52 of them delivered in the quarter.
As for the 777X program, in the quarter, we moved the first two test airplanes into the low-rate initial production line in the main factory. We also began the systems testing for this exciting development program. We will remain on track for first 777X deliver in 2020.
Now, over to Defense, Space, and Security. BDS reported second quarter revenue of $5.6 billion, reflecting the Kuwait F-18 production contract award and higher weapons volume, with operating margins 9.3%. The $7 billion of new orders booked by BDS during the quarter demonstrates the value we bring to our customers across our Defense, Space, and Security portfolio. These orders included finalization of the production contract for 28 F-18 Super Hornets to Kuwait, an additional order for 18 F-18 Super Hornets for the U.S. Navy, three P-8 Poseidon aircraft for the U.S. Navy, as well as a multiyear contract for 58 V-22 Osprey aircraft.
Key milestones for BDS included induction of the first F-18 aircraft into the service life modification program, two successful tests for the U.S. Air Force's Minuteman III, and production of the 100th P-8 aircraft. On the commercial satellite side, we successfully completed the O3BM power preliminary design review with SES.
Turning to Global Services, our integrated services business completed its first full year of operation at the end of the quarter. BGS reported second quarter revenue of $4.1 billion with operating margins of 14.7%, reflecting higher volume along with product and services mix. During the quarter, BGS won new business totaling approximately $4 billion. That demonstrates the value that we bring to our broad range of commercial and government customers. These included an F-18 Depot maintenance contract for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, a global fleet care contract for Primera Air's 737 fleet, and performance-based logistics contracts to support The Netherlands' Rotorcraft fleet. These orders highlight the strength of our One Boeing offerings.
Additionally, BGS delivered its first 737 Boeing Converted Freighter in the quarter. As part of our growth strategy of complimenting organic investments with selection strategic acquisitions, in May we announced our agreement to acquire KLX, a major provider of aviation parts and services. By combining the talent and product offerings of our Aviall business and KLX, we will provide a one-stop shop that will benefit our supply chain and our customers in a meaningful way. Also in the quarter, we announced a proposed partnership with Safran to jointly design, build, and service auxiliary power units. This move will strengthen Boeing's vertical capabilities as we continue to expand our services portfolio and make strategic investments that accelerate our growth plans.
In summary, we delivered another quarter of strong operating performance, captured noteworthy additions to our large and diverse backlog, returned significant cash to shareholders, and complimented our organic growth with planned strategic and organic investments.
With that, let's turn to the business environment on Slide 3. We continue to see healthy global demand in our commercial, defense, space, and services markets. We have recently revised the size of these growing markets upward to $8.1 trillion over the next 10 years. In the commercial airplanes market, airlines continue to report robust profits and strong passenger traffic, outpacing global GDP. Passenger traffic in 2018 grew 6.8% through May. Meanwhile, cargo traffic maintained its strong momentum, growing by 5.3% in 2018 through May, as we see trade and industrial production growing in all regions.
Our global customers continue to recognize the compelling value proposition that our new more fuel-efficient product family brings to the market, as reflected in the healthy new order intake we've seen year-to-date. We continue to see the trend of diverse and balanced demand from a geographical perspective, as well as across the spectrum of airline business models. The changing nature of travel, with the expansion of network city pairs and rising middle class population in emerging markets, have fundamentally expanded traffic patterns and underpinned sustained growth. There also is more balanced demand between fleet growth and replacement of older aircraft, and we are seeing more consistent and stable customer purchasing patterns.
We believe the evolution in key market dynamics in the aggregate is driving greater stability and far less cyclicality for our industry. Over the long term, we remain highly confident in our commercial market outlook, which now forecasts demand for nearly 43,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years, up from our previous outlook of approximately 41,000 airplanes. This is comprised of more than 31,000 aircraft in the narrow-body market and approximately 9,000 aircraft in the wide-body market. These deliveries, of which 44% will be driven by replacement demand, will double the size of the global fleet. This long-term demand, combined with healthy market conditions and a robust backlog, provides a solid foundation for our planned production rates.
Turning to our product segments. Starting with the narrow-body, our production rate of 52 per month, starting June of this year, and planned increase to 57 in 2019, is based on our backlog of more than 4,700 aircraft and a production skyline that is sold out into early next decade. We continue to assess the upward pressure on the 737 production rate.
In the wide-body segment, we have seen steady orders for the 787 and 777 airplanes and have high confidence in a meaningful increase in wide-body replacement demand early next decade. For the current generation 777, we've received 19 net new orders in the quarter, bringing the backlog to 96 aircraft. The renewed strength in the air cargo sector has provided support for the 777 bridge, as highlighted by recent orders, which included incremental freighters for FedEx and DHL. Additionally, earlier this month, we finalized Qatar Airways' order for five 777 freighters and received a letter of intent for 29 777 freighters from Volga-Dnepr and CargoLogicHolding. As we transition production to the 777X, we expect 777 deliveries of approximately 3.5 per month in 2018 and 2019, as previously announced.
As you can see from the recent activities, we continue to make good progress on the 777 bridge. And, while we still have some work to do in filling the remaining 777 production slots, in particular for 2020 and beyond, based on our progress of capturing new orders and commitments, managing the skyline, and working new campaigns, we continue to believe the rate plan we put in place establishes a floor for the program and supports our production bridge from the current 777 to the 777X. As we look forward to the 777X, we have a strong foundation of 340 orders and commitments that support our plan for ramping up production and delivery of this new aircraft.
We also captured 59 orders for the 787 Dreamliner family in the quarter, a solid platform for long-term production. With more than 650 firm orders in our backlog, our plan to increase Dreamliner production to 14 airplanes a month in 2019 is well supported. We continue to see repeat orders for the 787 Dreamliner, including from Qantas, Bank of China Aviation, and United. These repeat orders, coupled with continuing the traction from new carriers such as Bamboo Airways' recent commitment for 20 787s highlight the strong market preference for the 787 and its superior value.
Turning to our 747 and 767 programs. With our unmatched freighter product lines, we are well positioned to capture the increased cargo demand. During the quarter, FedEx announced an order for 12 incremental 767 freighters. This further supports our 767 production rate increase from 2.5 per month to three per month in 2020. We remain focused on the strong long-term aerospace industry fundamentals as highlighted by the continued strength of traffic. It is important to have this in perspective as we navigate through global trade discussions.
As a global company with operations around the world supporting commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries, Boeing maintains strong relationships with our customers, suppliers, and other key stakeholders around the world. We will continue to engage with leaders in these countries to urge a productive dialogue to resolve trade differences, highlighting the mutual economic benefits of a strong and prosperous aerospace industry.
Turning to Defense, Space, and Security. We continue to see solid demand for our major platforms and programs. The final appropriation bill for fiscal year 2018 U.S. federal budget funded our key programs across our fixed wing, rotorcraft, commercial derivative aircraft, and our missile, space and satellite products. Boeing continues to see strong support for our key products in the fiscal year 2019 President's budget and in Congress, including increased procurement of 110 F-18 Super Hornets across the future year defense plan, support for a fourth multiyear procurement for the F-18, and increases for various programs in our weapons and rotorcraft portfolios. The BDS portfolio is well positioned with mature, world-class platforms to address current needs.
International demand for our defense and space offerings remains high as well, in particular for rotorcraft, commercial derivatives, fighters, and satellites. As I mentioned earlier, we finalized a production contract for 28 F-18 Super Hornets for Kuwait and received a multiyear contract for the V-22 Osprey, which includes four aircraft for the government of Japan. Recently, New Zealand selected the Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft as its new maritime patrol aircraft. We are making progress toward completing other previously announced international sales including additional Chinook helicopters for Spain and Saudi Arabia.
Our investment in future growth and new sales continues in areas that are priorities for our customers such as commercial derivatives, rotorcrafts, satellites, services, human space exploration, and autonomous systems. Much of that investment supports the priority we have placed on capturing future franchise programs, where we are also leveraging capabilities and technologies from across the enterprise for the T-X trainer, ground-based strategic deterrent, and the unmanned carrier-based MQ-25A, along with several other important opportunities.
Turning to the services sector. We see the $2.8 trillion services market over the next 10 years as a significant growth opportunity for our company. BGS provides agile, cost competitive services to our customers worldwide. We aim to grow faster than the average services market growth rate of 3.5% as we further expand our broad portfolio of services offerings and continue to gain market share.
Strong orders of $4 billion in the quarter reflect our customers' recognition of our value proposition in helping them optimize the performance of their fleets and reduce operational costs through the lifecycle. These activities stretch across BGS's four capability areas including parts, engineering mods and maintenance, digital aviation and analytics, and training and professional services. Our digital solutions, powered by Boeing AnalytX provide airlines with advanced optimization and analysis as illustrated by a recent contract from Etihad Airways to implement our crew management solutions to support the planning and operations of the 7,500 crew members.
The flexibility and strength of our optimization in the crew management suite will allow Etihad to solve complex issues with ease and support their decision-making process with detailed quantifications of risks and costs.
Our focus remains on optimizing the businesses and expanding our portfolio offerings through organic growth investments such as strengthening our vertical capabilities, complemented by strategic acquisitions, to position BGS for long-term sustained and profitable growth. Our expertise, the global reach of our business, and our strong customer partnerships have us well positioned to compete and win in this important sector.
Before I close this business environment section, I'd like to spend some time on Embraer. Consistent with our enterprise strategy of pursuing strategic investment opportunities where they demonstrate real value and accelerate our organic growth plans, earlier this month we signed an MOU with Embraer for formation of a joint venture comprising the commercial aircraft and services business of Embraer. This proposed partnership will strategically align with Boeing's commercial development, production, marketing, and life cycle services operations, strengthen the vertical capabilities of Boeing, and enhance value for our customers through industry leading products and services.
Additionally, we will create another joint venture to promote and develop new markets and applications for defense products and services, especially the KC-390 multi mission aircraft. This comprehensive enterprise wide collaboration with Embraer will create the most important strategic partnership in the aerospace industry, strengthening both companies' leadership in the global market and creating more value for both companies' customers, shareholders, and employees. While this agreement is a significant step, a considerable amount of work remains. In the coming months, we'll continue to work with Embraer and its shareholders, the Brazilian government, and regulators -- among others -- to complete the transaction.
In summary, with growing markets and opportunities ahead, our team remains intensely focused on growth, innovation, and accelerating productivity improvement to fuel our investments in the future.
With that, Greg, over to you for our financial results.
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
Thanks, Dennis, and good morning, everyone. Let's turn to Slide 4 and we'll discuss our second quarter results. Revenue for the quarter was strong at $24.3 billion, reflecting higher volume of commercial deliveries, favorable mix, along with along with an increased volume at both Defense, Space, and Security, as well as Boeing Global Services businesses. Core earnings per share of $3.33 reflect solid execution across the business, higher volume and improved mix, along with a lower tax rate. The results were partially offset by an after-tax charge of $124 million related to a receivable write-off due to the previously announced Spirit litigation outcome and cost growths of $334 million after tax on the KC-46 tanker program.
As Dennis mentioned, we're raising our full year revenue guidance to reflect higher volume at Defense, Space, and Security and global services. Additionally, we are adjusting Commercial Airplane and Defense, Space, and Security segment operating margins. I'll provide more details on our 2018 further in my remarks.
Now, let's now discuss Commercial Airplanes on Slide 5. Our Commercial Airplane business revenue increased to $14.5 billion during the quarter, reflecting higher deliveries and improved mix. BCA operating margins increased to 11.4%, driven by strong operating performance on production programs, higher 787 margins, and timing of some period expense partially offset by a $307 million pre-tax charge on the KC-46 tanker program. Second quarter BCA operating margins, excluding the tanker charge, were 13.3%. BCA captured $16 billion in net orders during the second quarter and the backlog remains very strong at $416 billion and nearly 5,900 aircraft, equating to approximately seven years of production.
On the 787 program, we delivered 38 aircraft and booked 59 net orders in the quarter and additionally we extended the 787 accounting block by 100 units. This resulted in higher margins on the program and therefore moderated the decline of deferred production balance this quarter. The overall cash profile of this program continues to improve due to the improved mix, supplier step-down pricing, and our team's day-to-day focus on improving 787 profitability and cash generation.
Let's now turn to Defense, Space, and Security results on Slide 6. Second quarter revenue increased to $5.6 billion, driven by FA-18 production contract award for Kuwait and higher weapons volume. BDS margins growing 9.3% reflected our continued focus on productivity and execution offset by a $111 million pre tax charge on the KC-46 tanker program. Second quarter BDS operating margin, excluding the tanker charge, were 11.2%. During the quarter, BDS won key contract awards worth $7 billion and our backlog stands at $52 billion with 35% of that from international customers.
Turning now to Boeing Global Services results on Slide 7. In the second quarter, Global Services revenue increased to $4.1 billion, reflecting higher volume, predominantly driven by increased parts sales. Year-over-year growth of 15% for the quarter, and 11% in the first half of the year, more than meets our objective to outpace the average annual services market growth rate of 3.5%.
BGS operating margins were solid at 14.7%, reflecting ongoing productivity efforts as well as mix of products and services in the quarter. During the quarter, BGS won key contract awards worth approximately $4 billion and our backlog now stands at $20 billion. This month marked the one-year anniversary of the launch of Boeing Global Services business and we're proud of the team's accomplishments. BGS results year-to-date are a testament to the team and the enterprise focus on achieving top-line growth while maintaining disciplined execution. The key wins this year underscore the strength of the One Boeing offerings to our customers.
Let's now turn to cash flow on Slide 8. Operating cash flow for the second quarter was strong at $4.7 billion, driven by planned higher commercial airplane rates, stronger operating performance across the business, and timing of receipts and expenditures. Year-to-date cash flow remains strong at $7.8 billion. We remain focused and on track with our balanced cash deployment strategy. In the second quarter we repurchased $3 billion of Boeing stock and paid $1 billion in dividends, reflecting a 20% increase in dividend per share from last year.
We continue to anticipate completing the remaining $12 billion repurchase authorization over the next 18-24 months. Since the end of 2012, we've returned $48 billion to our shareholders through dividend and share repurchase. At the same time, we've invested more than $30 billion in key strategic areas to ensure long-term sustainable growth for Boeing and our customers. We remain committed to returning approximately 100% of free cash flow to investors, while continuing to invest in future growth opportunities.
Let's move now to cash and debt balance on Slide 9. We ended the quarter with nearly $10 billion of cash and marketable securities, lower debt levels, and stable credit ratings. Our cash position continues to provide us with the flexibility to invest in innovation and profitable growth opportunities while again returning value to shareholders.
Let's turn now to Slide 10, we'll discuss our outlook for 2018. For full-year guidance, we're raising revenue guidance by $1 billion, to now be between $97-99 billion, from our prior guidance of between $96-98 billion. The increase in revenue reflects the growth from key international fighter awards and higher weapons revenue for BDS and higher parts revenue for BGS. As a result, we're increasing guidance by $500 million, to be between $22-23 billion for BDS, and between $15.5-16 billion for BGS.
We're also updating full-year BCA and BDS segment operating margin guidance to reflect BCA's strong performance and cost growth on the KC-46 tanker program this quarter. BCA margin guidance is increased to now be greater than 11.5% from our prior guidance of approximately 11.5%, again reflecting strong performance and offsetting the growth on the tanker program this quarter. BDS margin guidance is reduced to now be between 10-105% from our prior guidance of approximately 11%, again primarily due to the reflecting of the impact of the KC-46 tanker growth.
The rest of the full-year guidance, including EPS, cash flow, and aircraft deliveries remain unchanged. And, by holding EPS and cash flow guidance, we are absorbing the impact of the tanker cost growth and Spirit litigation charge, offsetting that with performance.
As we look toward the remainder of the year, we remain focused on strong execution, including development programs, and risk mitigation within our company and throughout our supply chain. In summary, our core operating engine continues to deliver strong results. We will continue to use a three-business unit strategy as a key differentiator in the marketplace, make prudent investments, and leverage talent and innovation across the company. At the same time, we will set challenging goals and objectives around elements of operations and support functions tied to profitability and efficiency to generate cash and improve working capital while delivering value to our customers. All of these will help us achieve our goal to grow year-over-year revenue, cash flow, and margins.
With that, I'll turn it back over to Dennis for some closing comments.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Greg. With a strong couple of quarters providing solid momentum for the year, our team remains focused on further driving both growth and productivity. We would not have been able to achieve these strong results without the hard work and dedication of our employees and the great partnership we enjoy with our customers and suppliers.
In addition to the strong commercial airplane market dynamics I mentioned earlier in my remarks, we've taken our own actions to reduce cyclicality in our business. This includes remaining disciplined in our production rate decisions, de-risking our pension liabilities, strategically phasing our research and development spending, creating labor stability with long-term contracts, and expanding our services business, which is also less cyclical.
We have executed on our long-term strategy of robust and continuing organic growth investment and returning value to shareholders, complemented by strategic acquisitions and partnerships that enhance and accelerate our growth plans. The recently announced planned strategic partnerships with Embraer and Safran, and agreement to acquire KLX Aerospace, are entirely consistent with this strategy. As the world's largest aerospace company, spanning commercial, defense, space, and services, we are as optimistic about our future and the future of our industry as we have ever been.
Our priorities going forward are to leverage our unique One Boeing advantages, continue building strength on strength to deliver and improve on our commitments, and to stretch beyond those plans and sharpen and accelerate our pace of progress on key enterprise growth and productivity efforts.
Achieving these objectives will require a clear and consistent focus on the profitable ramp-up in Commercial Airplane production, continuing to strengthen our Defense and Space business, growing our Integrated Services business, leveraging the power of our three business unit strategy, delivering on our development programs, driving world-class levels of productivity and performance throughout the enterprise to fund our investments in innovation and growth, disciplined leading-edge investments and balanced value-creating cash deployment and continuing to develop and maintain the best team and talent in the industry, all of which position Boeing for continued market leadership, sustained top- and bottom-line growth, and increasing value for our customers, shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders.
...
With that, we'd be happy to take your questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] First, we'll go to the line of Peter Arment of Robert W. Baird. Your line is open.
Peter J. Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. -- Analyst
Thanks. Good morning. Dennis, could you address the supply chain readiness, particularly on the narrow-body side? Some of the comments coming out of Farnborough is that the engine OEMs are still studying these higher rates and they don't seem to be ready to commit to them yet. Maybe you can give us some color. Do you still need that 18- to 24-month lead time to make a rate decision? Thanks.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
First of all, it's very important that we continue to work with our supply chain on our overall production ramp-ups. We just moved to 52 a month on the 737 line as of June. We're still planning to ramp-up to 57 a month next year. We continue to see upward pressure from the marketplace. We are selling and filling skyline out in the 2023 and beyond timeframe. In our current production system, while we see challenges and you've heard from our supply chain on some of the pressure points -- things like fuselages and engines -- which are well acknowledged. Those are items we work on a day-to-day basis. We're continuing to ramp up our supply chain, and it's healthy and we're meeting our customer delivery requirements. I think that's the key. We're continuing to hit on deliveries.
As we contemplate future rate increases, we're going to continue to look at the supply chain in an integrated manner. There are no doubt pressure points as we ramp up. That's why we need to continue to be very deliberate and disciplined in these decisions. We've done that. We've done more than 20 rate breaks since 2010, so we know how to do this. We're going to continue to apply that same disciplined approach. The market pressures indicate upward pressure, and as we approach our decision points with the lead times, we'll do that in a very deliberate and disciplined manner.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies. Your line is open.
Sheila Kahyaoglu -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst
Good morning. Can we talk about Commercial Aircraft profitability given margins excluding the tanker costs were over 13%? Could you talk about the moving pieces as we move through the remainder of the year?
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
Yeah. To date, you've seen improvement across the board on the production programs and with the block extension on the 787. We're seeing the results of that this quarter. Going forward, you're going to continue to see a lot of productivity efforts across the programs, but you're going to see some shifts in period experience, in particular R&D. We'll have some more R&D in the back half, and think of that as just timing, primarily driven by 777X. We've also got some investments we're making around productivity in the back half that aren't reflected in the first half.
Those are the big moving pieces. We're seeing great performance across the board -- a lot of focus in particular around taking best practices across the enterprise and bringing them not only to commercial airplanes but across all of the portfolio. So, there is a lot more One Boeing effort going on leveraging best practices and we'll continue to do that as we strive to increase margins and cash flow going forward.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Seth Seifman with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.
Seth Seifman -- J.P. Morgan & Co. -- Analyst
Thanks very much. Good morning. Could you guys talk a little bit about the cash flow profile of the tanker program from here? Maybe thinking about a couple of the different elements, including any additional cash that might be needed on other aircraft that are in inventory beyond the ones that you mentioned? Any penalties that the Air Force might be entitled to, along with, on the positive side, the inventory reduction that comes from the deliveries?
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
Yeah. Tanker is going to continue to improve the cash profile going forward as we make more progress and then reach the milestones that Dennis articulated in the first delivery there being in October. We have a number of aircraft in work now, and as we deplete that inventory and start delivery, you'll see improved cash in the years to come. It won't be anything near term. Everything's been contemplated for the near term for the balance of this year. But, even as we talked about cash flow growing going forward, this is a key element of that -- but not a significant moving piece when you think about the broader cash levels of the company.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Just to add a little more color on tanker itself, a key thing to note in the quarter is, while we took the charge on those early build aircraft and flight test aircraft, it's very important to not the milestone we achieved in the quarter of completing all of the flight testing associated with first delivery, getting all of our artifacts submitted for final certification, and getting crystal clarity on what is left to build out these aircraft. We have a known configuration, flight testing is completed, and now we need to finish the work to get to delivery. That will produce the results that Greg mentioned.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Rajeev Lalwani of Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Rajeev Lalwani -- Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Hi. Just staying on the tanker, you've had some challenges on the program. You've managed them reasonably well, but as we look forward to the 777X and the NMA, what are you doing to de-risk those programs so you don't have similar obstacles like you did on the tanker? Is it more of a digital approach? Are you trying to manage a timeline a bit? Just some color there to help us get comfortable with any risk going forward.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
You bet. Rajeev, we have a very focused effort on enterprise development programs and lessons learned, learning from each of the programs as we execute them. While tanker has had its challenges, we have learned a lot through that process, especially in our commercial derivative lines and how we do development programs that span our commercial production and military certification requirements. Tanker was especially complex because of the multiple certifications required both commercial and military. That's not a complexity that we have on a product like 777X or NMA.
That said, several lessons learned. One includes digitizing our engineering at a more detailed level upfront. This is the model-based engineering initiatives that we have under way, as an example. Also, more significant investments in system integration labs upfront to de-risk development and eliminate downstream discoveries. That's been very effective for us on 777X. Also, some of the early prototyping in the production systems -- again, to de-risk key areas as we move into the production flow. We're seeing that reflected again on 777X as the first two airplanes have now moved into the low-rate initial production line.
All of these early de-risking steps are showing up in a positive way on 777X. We're going to keep a close eye on that as we build out to flight test aircraft and move into flight test. But, given that we're into the heart of 777X right now, we have a healthy development program on track to deliver on 2020 as scheduled. We're seeing clear signs of improvement in our overall development program process. That's our headset going forward and we'll continue to learn. This is one of the benefits of our phased R&D approach. Rather than doing multiple development programs in parallel, we're now doing a much more sequential approach that we can learn program to program and continue to reduce risk going forward.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Hunter Keay of Wolfe Research. Your line is open.
Hunter Keay -- Wolfe Research, LLC -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning. You talked about mix driving some pressure on BGS margins, and I think you called out part sales as driver of the topline. As we learn more about this business, what are some of the moving parts that help and hurt mix there that we should think about going forward, and whether that's by end market or contract type? Secondly, as the business spools up, would you be willing to trade a little bit of margin for some topline opportunity? Thanks.
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
You're right. It's a very different portfolio than the other businesses, so you're dealing with thousands of contracts and a couple of million different offerings through parts or other services. With that, just the nature of that business, you're going to end up with some ebbs and flows quarter-to-quarter depending on how that mix plays out. So, the portfolio is very different, obviously, and that's going to drive some of that change.
But, beneath that, the focus continues to be on core operating performance, the cost structure, and the working capital around that business. So, that engine is going to continue to run quarter-over-quarter, week-after-week, month-after-month. But, you are going to end up seeing these movements quarter-to-quarter. But end objective, grow the business as we've talked about and at the same time grow the bottom line and expand margin. That's the underlying objective of this business, and ultimately we think we can serve our customers much better in doing that.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
We're staying very focused on our overall effort to drive to mid-teen margins across the entire business. To the last part of your question, on margin growth in BGS, we expect margins in BGS to be accretive to our overall enterprise margin. So, this is all about profitable growth.
Operator
Next up, we have the line of Carter Copeland of Melius. Your line is open.
Carter Copeland -- Melius Research LLC -- Analyst
Just a quick clarification and question expanding on what Seth asked. Greg, can you confirm if the 787 unit versus program was positive or negative in the quarter? And then, on this whole tanker cash flow -- the size of the charge and how we should think about impact in the cash. Are the terms of payment with the customer on that payment upon delivery of the aircraft or milestone based ahead of that? Thanks, guys.
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, they're milestone based. Performance milestone based.
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
With regards to the 787, we did see unit improvement this quarter across the board.
Operator
Next up, we have the line of Doug Harned of Bernstein. Your line is open.
Douglas Stuart Harned -- Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Good morning. Thank you. I know at Farnborough, you got a number of 777 orders. Can you help us understand where you stand on filling the bridge to the 777X? Then, perhaps give us a sense of what you think that 777X ramp will look like given the planned entry into service in 2020. Along with that, when do you expect we'll likely see more orders for the 777X rather than just the 777?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
You bet. The key thing on 777 is we've seen very strong recovery in the freighter market in particular. You see that in the demand in recent orders. We have 24 new orders year-to-date for 777s, through the end of the second quarter. Since the end of the quarter, an additional five for Qatar -- 777 freighters. So, year-to-date 29 new orders for 777s. Beyond that, we have the additional announcements that have been recently made, including the letter of intent from Volga-Dnepr for 29 777s.
We continue to have a number of other campaigns under way as well. So, you really see the strength of the market continuing to build our confidence in filling out the bridge. We're really now focused on skyline slots 2020 and beyond. We still have work to do, but our confidence continues to grow based on recent sales successes and what we see as sustained growth in the freighter market.
Now, as we look beyond that, and headed toward 777X development, a key fact is that today we have 340 orders and commitments in place for the 777X. For the dash-9 variant of that, we have 273 of those 340. If you want to compare that to where we were at the same time on the 777-300ER, back when it was introduced, at that same relative point in time we had 70. So, 273 versus 70. That should give you a sense of the confidence we have in the backlog for 777X.
Now, we still continue to have additional campaigns and high interest in the 777X, but we're in very good shape as we look at our production pipeline and backlog position to ramp-up successfully on the 777X. So, the key focus now is move into flight test on the 777X, finish out the current 777 bridge where we have growing confidence again, and then get to EIS for 777X in 2020. All of the dimensions of that puzzle continue to firm up and we're seeing growing confidence. That's why the production rate plan we put in place, we see that as a very clear floor for the production program. We look forward to moving into the 777X.
Operator
Next in queue, we have the line of David Strauss of Barclays. Your line is open.
David Strauss -- Barclays Capital, Inc. -- Analyst
Thanks. Good morning. About cash flow, I think, Greg, you talked earlier in the year that you saw prepayments as relatively neutral for the year. I think year-to-date, we're running at $3 billion. Are you expecting those to reverse as we go through the second half? And, on inventory, it looks like the ex the drawdown in 787 deferred, you've had about $1 billion inventory build this year. Is that 777X or just related to this 37 ramp? Any color there? Thanks.
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
A little bit of both, David. 777X inventory being the biggest driver, and will continue to be through the balance of the year and into next year. With regards to the advances, you're absolutely right. They move around quarter-to-quarter depending on the PDP schedule. We've seen some this year, more frontloaded, than we will in the back half of the year. We've taken that into consideration with the guide.
Operator
Next in queue, we have the line of Ron Epstein of Bank of America. Your line is open.
Ronald Epstein -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Good morning. I think at Farnborough, Dennis, you mentioned on the 797 -- I think the quote is, "We want to be in the 2025 window with maybe a 2019 launch." When we think about the 79, or middle market -- whatever it's going to be, should we start building in something of that in our financial forecasts? It seems like the drumbeat's really gaining momentum. Secondly, when we think about it, is it a wide-body? Is it a narrow-body? Where are you guys on that now?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
First of all, as you know, we haven't made a launch decision. But, we continue to look at the middle of the market airplane. As you heard at Farnborough, we continue to have very productive customer discussions on that topic. We do see a marketplace there for 4,000-5,000 aircraft and we're very focused now on deliberately going through our business case to make a good launch decision. We are protecting 2025 as the entry into service date and that aligns with our customer's needs and desires. We're doing the appropriate long lead work to protect that delivery date. We're looking at making a launch decision in 2019.
We're going to be very deliberate about that and make sure the business case makes good, solid sense. That's our headset going in. We're not going to predetermine the answer there. We're talking to our supply chain and we're taking a look at every dimension of the program. We have to look at this through a life cycle lens, both in airplane and downstream services, and make sure we're producing value for customers.
In terms of your question about wide-body or narrow-body, as we look at configuration options and details, and begin firming that up, we're hearing from customers that we need something that has the comfort and twin aisle benefit of wide bodies, but has narrow-body economics. That's frankly the challenge of closing the business case. It goes back to all of the work we're doing on transforming our enterprise to drive efficiency in development, production, and support. If we build the confidence in the data we need to make a business case that closes, we'll launch. If we don't, we'll continue down the path with our current product lines.
Ronald Epstein -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Great. Thank you.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Robert Spingarn with Credit Suisse. Your line is open.
Robert M. Spingarn -- Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC -- Analyst
Good morning. With your very strong margins at BCA, especially ex that charge, you've done a lot with costs. You're going to continue to do that, but I want to ask about the pricing side of the equation, especially in the context of airbus comments last week at the show about pricing opportunity given the scarcity of slots. I know you have to balance that against higher rates, but how should we think about pricing over the next few years?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Rob, when we take a look at that, it's important to note that the pricing is holding up. It's driven by a number of different parameters, including supply versus demand, but also value we generate for our customers and making sure that that value proposition is clear. Everything we do on the pricing front is looking through that customer value lens. That's our focus. And the fact that pricing is holding up and you can see that reflected in our performance is a good sign of the unique value that our product lines are delivering for our customers.
I will say, as you look across our narrow body and wide body product lines, it's very clear that our products deliver operating cost advantage and value advantage for our customers. That's a key part of our equation going forward. We're also keeping in mind the fact that we have this enterprise wide global support and services capability, though in many cases when we think about pricing we're looking at it holistically across airplanes and services, which I think is a unique part of the Boeing value proposition.
Robert M. Spingarn -- Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC -- Analyst
Between the pricing and the cost element, do you have a sense of when you can hit this 15% type margin at BCA?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
As we said, we're driving toward that mid-teen margin by the end of the decade. That's been our objective. You can see the progress we're making. As we mentioned before, we expect it to be continuing incremental progress. There's not going to be a big step function or a hockey stick. It's continuous, focused, incremental performance. As you can see in our data, Rob, the core BCA margins minus the tanker charge is up over 13%. That ought to give you a good indicator of the progress that we're making. We're going to be relentless on this focus and it's really about driving out costs, driving productivity, working with our supply chain, and being diligent about our production rates.
Robert M. Spingarn -- Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC -- Analyst
Thanks, Dennis.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Noah Poponak of Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Noah Poponak -- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Good morning. Greg, was the 787 cash unit margin up or down in 2Q versus 1Q? And, any willingness, even if in a wide range, give us an indication of where you've taken that? Similarly, on the program accounting margin, maybe help us out on how big of a change you made in it?
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
Yeah. Overall, you're seeing 787 improvement across the board. As you look at the big levers in the cost structure that we've talked about, the mix improving, the overall productivity unit-over-unit in our factories, and leveraging the best practices -- looking at the commonality between a nine and a ten, and how that improves productivity in our factory and supply chain is pretty significant. Combined with the supplier step downs that we have in place contractually -- and our own focus internally and even going out into the supply chain, taking our productivity, where we've been successful in area of productivity, and bringing that out to the supply chain to help the overall program improve.
I wouldn't say it's one thing. It's many levers that we're working on and trying to pull. You're seeing that in the unit margin, in the overall cash profile of the program. As we've said a number of times, the way the team looks at this and the way we look at it is unit-over-unit, what do we need to do to improve and be even more competitive in the marketplace? How do we leverage the best practices within our factories combined with services between defense-based security and commercial, and also within the supply chain? That's been the cadence and level of effort that's been going on. That's going to continue.
You're seeing that in the overall cash profile of the program improving combined with going up in rates very smoothly and getting that dash-10 into the production system smoothly. We're going to deliver approximately 14 aircraft this year, dash-10s. Very, very smooth introduction. And that goes to the commonality of that design versus dash-10 and the team's relentless focus on ensuring that we get that into the hands of the customer on time, minimize risk. It's a great example of de-risking how we bring a derivative program into the production system.
So, a lot of different things, but you're going to see that continued effort going forward on this program and all the other ones.
Noah Poponak -- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Appreciate that color. Any ability to give us a sense of where the program accounting margin sits at this point?
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
It's improved. With the block extension, that helped. If you go out in the further block, you're seeing favorable mix, pricing, and supplier stepdown along with our own productivity. As we march through time, you're going to see an improvement overall to that margin incrementally as we move forward in those blocks. Here, day in and day out, it's about unit performance, meeting our targets, utilizing all of our working capital initiatives, and then all of our productivity. But, we're focused unit over unit that ultimately will translate into program margin.
Noah Poponak -- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Alright. Thank you.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Sam Pearlstein with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.
Samuel Joel Pearlstein -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Good morning. Could you talk a little bit more about -- you mentioned the joint venture with Safran and APUs. I'm trying to think about, how do you balance the spend on a new plane with some of the significant nonrecurring engineering in areas like APUs and maybe even avionics, that's typically borne by suppliers. How does that factor into your thinking about eventually launching a new plane?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Sam, we figure that into our overall organic investment profile and that phased R&D plan I mentioned earlier. As part of our organic investment, we're very focused on a few key verticals. We don't need to be vertical everywhere, but there are a few areas where, when we look through a customer value lens, it's clear that we can add value. The work on APUs with Safran is one of those areas. You mentioned avionics. That's another area. Interiors is another area we've looked at and announced a joint venture with Adient.
So, those are very targeted areas, well known investments. As part of our organic profile, those have been feathered in with our broader R&D investments in new platforms and product lines, including things like the 777X and some of our new defense products and services. That's all part of an integrated R&D plan. The way we've laid that into the profile is done in a way to ensure synergy between our verticals that we're building and our future platform products. It's important that we do that in a synergistic way.
But, I would view that as an integrated organic investment plan. Not something where we're trading verticals or platforms. It's doing it together with an eye toward creating value for customers. Where it makes sense, we augment that with inorganic investments. That cash deployment strategy remains constant. As we talked about, while we make those organic and inorganic investments, we've also committed to returning 100% free cash flow to our investors. That commitment remains solid.
Maurita B. Sutedja -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Operator, we have time for one more analyst question.
Operator
Thank you. Next, we'll go to the line of Ken Herbert with Canaccord. Your line is open.
Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst
Good morning. Dennis and Greg, I wanted to follow up on Dennis' comments specifically on -- as you look at everything now much more with a life cycle lens, on the NMA, assuming you move forward there, how does that lens impact your analysis of the business case in terms of the market opportunity? And how might that potentially impact your go-to-market strategy? You obviously have opportunities now to capture economics in a much broader range. Can you provide any more detail as to your thinking around that and how it might specifically get applied or used around the NMA?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. In particular, as we look at the business case for NMA, we're looking at it both from an airplane and downstream services standpoint. So, an integrated life cycle view. Where can we create value for customers? Depending on the customer set, there's a different value proposition for different airlines. In some cases, we can reduce operating costs. In some cases, we can help them reduce capital investment costs. We're factoring that entire equation into our business case. It does give us more parameters to look at. It gives us more ways to construct a business case for the future. And, taking that holistic life cycle view just gives us a more robust business case.
Also, as you pointed out, it will affect our potential go-to-market approaches, and how we can tailor a value proposition for different customers. And, it will drive different ways of how you might design such an airplane -- again, from the start, thinking about digital solutions and the architecture of the airplane so it can enable optimized services for customers. It's not only something that factors into the business case, it also affects how we would design the airplane. All of that is being done in our business case analysis, and I'll go back to my earlier point that it's important that we get it right. We're going to take the time to get it right. We're protecting the EIS state for our customers at 2025. If we decide to launch this development program, the R&D profile would be on the backside of 777X. It would feather in nicely and be consistent with our overall cash flow priorities.
Operator
And that does complete the analysts' question-and-answer session for this morning. [Operator Instructions] I will now return you to The Boeing Company for introductory remarks by Mr. Phil Musser, Senior Vice President of Communications. Mr. Musser, please go ahead
Phil Musser -- Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
Thank you very much, operator. We'll continue now with media questions for Dennis and Greg. If you have questions following this part of the session, please contact our Media Relations team by email or at 312-544-2002. Operator, we're ready for the first question. And, in the interest of time, we'd ask you please that you limit everyone to just one question, please.
Operator
Certainly. And our first question comes from the line of Julie Johnsson of Bloomberg. Your line is open.
Julie Johnsson -- Bloomberg -- Media
Hi. Good morning. Just to circle back on narrow-body rate, it seems to me that Boeing's taking a more cautious or measured approach to evaluating rate increases into the 2020s, while your competitor's talking about rate 70 or even rate 75. Can the supply chain actually support the rates that Airbus has been publicly mulling? If they move forward, is Boeing going to have to keep pace, especially given the very strong demand environment?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Let me provide some additional perspective on that. We're going to be very focused on being disciplined about rate decisions and our production ramp-up. We have important work ahead of us. We just moved to 52 a month on the 737 line. We're going to move to 57 a month next year. As we said, the market pressures do indicate upward pressure on that rate. That's a challenge, but it's a good challenge to have. At every one of these steps, we're going to bring our entire supply chain along. I think you see that reflected in our performance. We're continuing to meet our delivery commitments to our customers. That's the lens that we put on these production rate decisions. We see pressure points in the supply chain. We work those on a day-to-day basis, and we're very focused on maintaining our discipline.
We'll make rate decisions not only informed by market pressures, but informed by our ability to execute them successfully. I think our track record of doing 20 successful rate breaks over the last several years speaks to our approach. While I can't comment on our competitor's approach, I can comment on our disciplined approach. We're going to maintain that approach. We're working very closely with our supply chain to bring them along in an integrated fashion. That will continue to be our focus going forward.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Brian Sozzi of TheStreet. Your line is open.
Brian Sozzi -- TheStreet -- Media
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Dennis, since the last time we talked, we got the Space Force announcement. How are you thinking about it and what type of dollar impact could that potentially new program mean to Boeing? On the services business, real good for you guys. Are you planning to get more aggressive on acquisitions to build that out?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
First of all, on Space Force -- and more broadly, on the space business -- I'm very encouraged by what I see as the administration leaning forward on investing in space. All dimensions of the space business -- not only Space Force, but the work that's going into space exploration and the reinvigoration of that entire ecosystem. We've had the opportunity to participate as part of the National Space Council and be on the user advisory group there, partnered with the administration. So, we have industry voice at the table as we shape these potential opportunities.
From that standpoint, I'm very encouraged about the U.S. government leaning forward and investing in space. It's good for business. It creates growth opportunities for us. It's also a great way to develop STEM talent for the future. When we look at our growth opportunities going forward, we do see the space business as an important part of that. And that spans from lower orbit commercial travel and access to the space station, to our satellite business, and to our deep space exploration, including the space launch system with a focus on returning to the moon and then stepping to Mars. We're going to continue to lean forward in that business. It's an important invest area for us.
On services, we continue to see that as a very attractive growth market for us. We've set a high bar target of growing that to be a $50 billion a year business over the 5- to 10-year timeframe. While we're a year into that effort, I think we have some good signs, especially if you look at the growth year-to-date of 11% versus 3.5% in the market. It's good signs that our strategy is working. A lot of work ahead of us and it's an integrated organic and inorganic investment strategy, primarily driven by organic investment, parts, mods and maintenance, our training business, our digital business. Those are all known organic investments. Where it makes sense we'll complement that with inorganic investments. But, we clearly see acquisitions as a bolt on compliment to what is primarily an organic investment strategy.
Operator
Next, we have the line of Dominic Gates of Seattle Times. Your line is open.
Dominic Gates -- Seattle Times -- Media
Good morning, everyone. I want to ask about the maturity of the 777X, the new automated technology that you've introduced there. You've posted a new wing center and you've added the wing assembly automated equipment now for that. You've also got the fuselage and robotics. Both of those initially had some issues, challenges, as they were new. Are they now -- both he fuselage and the wing automated systems -- operating the way you want them to? Will you plan to use any of that for NMA?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Dominic, we continue to make very good progress on those automation systems. While I won't declare them to be in final state, it's very clear that we've made progress, both on the fuselage automated systems as well as the wing build system. I think the key thing that you see in our focus here is that, while those automation systems were designed purpose built to be used for 777X production, we've de-risked those systems by pulling them forward in the factory and applying them to the current 777 program where it makes sense.
So, we've been able to use that as a way to de-risk. And, there have been some challenges as we've ramped up those automation capabilities. That's exactly. Why we pulled them forward into the 777 line, to experience and de-risk those systems. We've seen them continue to mature. We're seeing operational efficiency gains in our factory. We're seeing safety benefits for our workforce. We're seeing quality benefits -- all of the things we hoped to get out of the automation are coming to bear. We're going to continue to mature those as we move into the test program for 777X.
If we decide to launch NMA, part of that would leverage the next generation of automation technology. Again, as we digitize our airplanes, it becomes even more straightforward to apply these automation techniques. We're going to see costs and schedule benefits. We're going to see safety benefits for our workforce. This is a key part of how we're transforming the Boeing enterprise for the future.
Phil Musser -- Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
Operator, we have time for one more question from the media.
Operator
Certainly. Our last question will come from the line of Andrew Tangel of Wall Street Journal. Your line is open.
Andrew Tangel -- The Wall Street Journal, Inc. -- Media
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Chinese carriers and leasers have previously played a significant role in the orders and commitments at the air shows in Paris and Farnborough. But, there weren't that many fresh deals from Chinese companies at the recent air show in Farnborough. By one estimate, almost half of Boeing's new orders and commitments at last year's Paris air show came from Chinese companies. What do you make of the relative absence of a large number of Chinese buyers at this year's air show, especially in light of how much growing demand you expect from China over the next couple of decades? Does this potentially signal that Chinese buyers are holding off making orders or commitments because of some of the trade friction, including between the U.S. and China right now?
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
A look at our total orders book, very strong. If you look at total orders and commitments year-to-date of more than 900 commercial aircraft, that gives you a sense of the overall strength of the market. I don't find it surprising one way or the other that we may or may not have orders from a particular region or customer at the air show. We don't design our orders profile around air shows. We have some customers who want to make announcements at air shows and we work with them to do that, but our view is much more of a steady, sustained growth and orders throughput. You see that reflected in our month-to-month orders and sales.
Our Chinese customers are exceptionally important to us. They're a big part of the backlog we have, the 5,900 aircraft. They're a strong portion of that. The future market we talked about -- the world needing roughly 43,000 airplanes over the next 20 years -- about 7,200 of those are in China. It's an important customer for us. We're well positioned in China. We're working closely with our customers there. We're ramping up capability in China while we ramp up in the U.S.
I'll go back to my fundamental point. As we think about China/U.S. trade relationships, aerospace is something that's good for both countries. It's mutually beneficial. It creates growth capacity in China. It's helping them grow their economy. It's growing jobs in China. As China grows, it's growing jobs in the U.S. Our 737 production line, for example, as we ramp up building on Chinese demand, that's growing U.S. manufacturing jobs. It's very clear to us that free and open trade environment and good relations between China and the U.S. is not only beneficial to the aerospace business, but in turn the aerospace business is beneficial to the economies and jobs of both countries.
Phil Musser -- Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
Thank you. That concludes our second quarter earnings call. For members of the media, if you have further questions, please contact our media relations team at 312-544-2002 or via email. Thank you very much.
...
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen still connected, that does conclude the presentation for this morning. Again, we do thank you very much for your participation and for using our executive teleconference service. You may now disconnect.
Duration: 76 minutes
Call participants:
Maurita B. Sutedja -- Vice President of Investor Relations
Dennis A. Muilenburg -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Gregory D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Performance and Strategy
Phil Musser -- Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
Douglas Stuart Harned -- Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Robert M. Spingarn -- Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC -- Analyst
David Strauss -- Barclays Capital, Inc. -- Analyst
Samuel Joel Pearlstein -- Wells Fargo Securities LLC -- Analyst
Ronald Epstein -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Noah Poponak -- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Carter Copeland -- Melius Research LLC -- Analyst
Andrew Tangel -- The Wall Street Journal, Inc. -- Analyst
Brian Sozzi -- TheStreet -- Media
Seth Seifman -- J.P. Morgan & Co. -- Analyst
Sheila Kahyaoglu -- Jefferies LLC -- Analyst
Rajeev Lalwani -- Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC -- Analyst
Julie Johnsson -- Bloomberg -- Media
Dominic Gates -- Seattle Times -- Analyst
Peter J. Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. -- Analyst
Hunter Keay -- Wolfe Research, LLC -- Analyst
Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst
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