By Dan Catchpole

SEATTLE (Reuters) -Boeing said on Tuesday it delivered 45 commercial jets in April, nearly twice the 24 airplanes it delivered during the same month a year ago.

Aircraft deliveries are closely tracked by Wall Street because planemakers collect the majority of their payment when they hand over jets to customers. Years of crises and production problems have left Boeing heavily saddled with debt, and it needs to increase deliveries to bring in more cash.

The April deliveries included two for Chinese airlines before Beijing directed airlines to stop taking delivery of Boeing airplanes amid a trade war between China and the United States.

The company delivered four more jets last month than the 41 it delivered in March. 

It delivered a 777 freighter to CES Leasing Corp., which is owned by China Eastern Airlines' parent company, and a 737 MAX to China Southern. When U.S. President Donald Trump announced stiff tariffs against China in April, four 737 MAX aircraft were at Boeing's finishing center in Zhoushan, China, where it installs interiors, paints on liveries and does other work before delivering the aircraft. After China stopped taking deliveries, the planes flew back to Seattle. They are currently parked in Moses Lake in central Washington State.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said during the company's quarterly earnings call last month that it had planned to deliver about 50 aircraft to customers this year in China. Orders from Chinese carriers represent about 10% of the planemaker's commercial backlog.

Boeing delivered 29 737 MAX planes, including eight for United Airlines, five for Ryanair and five for Southwest Airlines. The company also delivered eight 787s, four 777 freighters and three 767s. 

April was the fourth consecutive month in which Boeing delivered more than 40 jets. The company has focused on stabilizing the production rate of its bestselling 737 MAX, which was hamstrung by quality problems in 2024.

Through the first four months of the year, Boeing has delivered 175 aircraft, including 133 737 MAX, 21 787s and 11 777 freighters.  

Boeing also booked eight gross new orders last month, one more than it recorded in April 2024. All orders were for 737 MAX jetliners by unidentified customers. It had no cancellations or conversions. Thirty-two orders placed earlier were added to the company's firm order book. They previously had not been included due to U.S. accounting rules. 

As of April 30, the planemaker has booked 249 gross orders and 212 net orders after cancellations and conversions. It had 6,282 unfilled orders, and its official backlog was 5,643 orders, after adjusting for accounting standards.

The U.S. planemaker trailed its European rival Airbus, which delivered 56 jets and booked 11 new orders in April. Both have received substantial orders so far in May, including an order from IAG, which owns British Airways, for 32 Boeing 787-10 aircraft for British Airways, and 21 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft.

(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in SeattleEditing by Rod Nickel)