<p>Boeing orders picked up in March, fueled by a major deal with Southwest Airlines that helped to offset another round of cancellations for its 737 Max airliner.</p>
<p>Boeing said Tuesday that it received 196 orders in March, including the previously announced 100 from Southwest, while losing 156 to cancellations. Turkish Airlines scrapped most of a commitment for 50 Max jets, replacing some with options.</p>
<p>The net gain of 40 orders raised Boeing’s first-quarter total to 76.</p>
<p>Boeing orders have plummeted over the past two years, first from the grounding of all 737 Max jets after two of them crashed, and later from a pandemic that brought global travel to a standstill and quashed airline demand for new planes. </p>
<p>Travel is picking up with the rollout of very effective vaccines, but it remains far below pre-pandemic levels. In the U.S., nearly 1.5 million people a day have gone through airport checkpoints this month, down from more than 2.3 million people per day in early April 2019.</p>
<p>Boeing needs sustained growth in travel to drive the market for replacement planes and, eventually, growth at its airline customers.</p>
<p>The Chicago manufacturer delivered 29 commercial planes in April: 19 Maxes, three 737s outfitted for military use, and seven larger widebody planes including passenger and cargo jets. </p>
