The loss was partly the result of the poor performance of Boeing's commercial satellite and launch business, which took $693m off net profit.

The company also indicated times were still tough in its commercial airplane business, trimming its forecast for jet deliveries next year.

"The downturn remains severe and continues to dampen demand across all airplane types, particularly the 757," Boeing said in a statement.

"The timing of a civil aviation industry recovery remains uncertain and is unlikely to begin before 2005.

"In commercial space, the outlook for launch services and satellites remains poor."

Earlier this month, Boeing said it was cutting 4,000-5,000 jobs on top of the 5,000 lay-offs it announced last November.

Chairman Phil Condit told the BBC's World Business Report the aviation industry was beginning its recovery after a string of setbacks, including the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Iraq war and the outbreak of the Sars virus.

"How do we begin to recover from that?," asked Mr Condit.

He suggested the recovery from Sars would be "relatively rapid" but warned: