Boeing on Wednesday said first quarter profit rose a greater-than-expected 38 percent, helped by higher deliveries of its commercial planes.
The Chicago-based company reported quarterly profit of USD$1.2 billion, compared with USD$877 million in the year-ago quarter.
Overall sales rose 4 percent to USD$16 billion, as more commercial plane deliveries offset a dip in defense revenue.
Boeing, which is struggling to get its 787 Dreamliner in the air, kept its earnings forecast of USD$5.70 to USD$5.85 per share for the full year.
For next year, it forecast earnings of USD$6.80 to USD$7.00 per share.
The company had originally planned to deliver 112 of its 787s by the end of 2009, but has scaled that back to 25 after three major delays on the program pushed it 15 months behind schedule.
Boeing said the plane was sticking to the latest schedule issued two weeks ago.
Sales at Boeing's commercial plane unit rose 8 percent to USD$8.2 billion in the first quarter, powered by an 8 percent increase in deliveries to 115.
