Boeing rolled out 380 planes last year, a far cry from the 806 planes it delivered in 2018. The huge difference - 426 aircraft - is accounted for almost entirely by the Illinois-based company's miseries with the 737 MAX aircraft.
Examining thoroughly last year's orders provides another perspective that Boeing stakeholders should be wary of in the next coming months: declining deliveries from mainland China.
It is no question that China is one of the most crucial segments of Boeing's revenue streams. Over 22 percent of Boeing's total sales from passenger aircraft deliveries come from China, from 2017 to 2018.
However, 2019 was a totally different story: Chinese orders plunged to around 12 percent, translating to a meager 45 planes.
Obviously, the MAX fleet of aircraft, formed part of the drop in sales, but this is not the main issue. China's major carriers - China Eastern Airlines and Air China - have all ordered more than 180 MAX planes.
Since 2017, Boeing has delivered 81 MAX aircraft to China. It's likely that the share of Chinese deliveries from Boeing would have dropped even if all the remaining MAX planes arrived in 2019.
According to former Boeing chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg, the China-US trade issue has presented challenges for the company's production plans. Falling orders from China during the past few years has added stress on Boeing's output figures, Muilenburg said.
The pause in Boeing's deliveries is one reason the Phase One trade agreement between Washington and China is so important for the company, analysts said.
The trade accord, which was signed at the White House late Wednesday, covers $200 billion worth of purchases of US products and services in the next two years. China is expected to buy huge volumes of US goods like soybeans, farm agricultural products and, of course, commercial jets.
In a statement released following the China-US trade deal signing, it said that Boeing has "long-standing relations with China that spans almost 50 years."
The plane builder applauds Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, including Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and US envoy Robert Lighthizer for their "leadership in creating a fair and mutually-beneficial trading relationship between China and the US," the statement added.
Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has accounted for more than its fair share of economic advancement. Aircraft deliveries have skyrocketed and the world's biggest economy ordered over a thousand Boeing planes in the last 10 years, an increase of more than 300 percent, compared to the prior period.
