Originally Posted by
inOban
I thought that they had a pipeline of orders for several years. Or are they, like the engine makers, not paid upfront but by the hour in use?
Airlines that go out of business don't take delivery, and those who are burning through all their available cash don't want to take delivery of new aircraft if they can avoid it. There are going to be massive deferrals of new deliveries over the next 12 months (at least, possibly much longer) for both Boeing and Airbus - and neither company can afford to keep building 60+ aircraft per month when they can only deliver a small fraction of that.
I've seen estimates of 30,000 near term job cuts at Boeing in the Puget Sound area (with at least that many more among suppliers). I suspect Airbus will be similar.