A long-in-the-works Boeing aircraft might have just cleared a key regulatory hurdle. After the Air Current reported Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration has begun taking key certification flights on the company’s 777x plane, Deutsche Bank thinks a revenue bump could be coming soon for the embattled planemaker.
“This marks a major step forward in the path toward certification and ultimately first deliveries for 777X, and comes over 4 years since first flight, vs. typical milestone gaps from first flight to TIA typically clocking in at less than 6 months,” analyst Scott Deuschle wrote in a note to clients.
Though the highest-profile obstacle to Boeing sending more planes to customers has been the increased FAA scrutiny and an imposed production slowdown it’s been under since a door plug fell off a 737 Max 9 plane in January. Another roadblock has been that some models still need to be certified by the FAA before they can be delivered. One of the planes in need of certification has been the 737 Max 10, and another has been the larger 777x.
If the beginning of the FAA certification flights means the 777x is nearing full clearance of the regulatory process, Deuschle thinks that the 20-something planes that Boeing has in storage could turn into $2 billion of revenue by the end of next year. That’s not a bad, considering that Boeing’s latest annual report says it made about $78 billion in all of 2023.
This article originally appeared on Quartz
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