(Bloomberg) — Boeing Co. posted a third-quarter loss that was bigger than analysts estimated and reduced its full-year profit forecast, hurt by $3.5 billion in charges for the delayed 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo jet programs.

The net loss of $1.56 billion, or $2.23 a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $695 million, or 96 cents, the Chicago-based company said today. The average estimate was $2.10 in a survey of 18 analysts.

The loss was the biggest in Bloomberg records dating to mid-1983. Boeing took combined charges of $3.59 a share for the 787 Dreamliner, whose first three test planes have no commercial value because of extensive reworking, and for the 747-8, which the company earlier this month said is more expensive and encountering lower demand than it predicted.

“We’re walking a fine line at this point, and any other delays with either program could seriously affect the outlook from 2011 on,” said Michel Merluzeau, a consultant with G2 Solutions in Seattle.

Sales rose 9.1 percent to $16.7 billion from the year- earlier quarter, which was hurt by a strike. That was less than the $17.2 billion average estimate in the Bloomberg survey.

The charges “overshadowed what continues to be otherwise solid performance,” Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said in today’s statement.

Boeing, which trails only Airbus SAS in commercial-plane deliveries, fell 69 cents to $51.20 at 9:49 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares rose 22 percent this year through yesterday and dropped 49 percent since October 2007, when the first of five 787 delays became known.

Full-Year Forecast

Full-year profit may be $1.35 to $1.55 a share on sales of $68 billion to $69 billion, Boeing said today. The previous forecast, made in July before the charges were disclosed, was $4.70 to $5 a share. The company won’t give a 2010 target until January. Analysts had estimated 2009 profit of $1.67 a share and 2010 earnings of $4.42.

Penalties to customers and suppliers are mounting because of setbacks for the jets, neither of which has flown yet. Boeing reiterated today that the 787 will fly this year and be delivered to the first customer at the end of 2010.

Boeing had $6.6 billion in cash and marketable securities as of Sept. 30 compared with $5 billion at the end of June. Consolidated debt climbed to $11 billion from $9.1 billion. The company spent $580 million in cash and forgave $422 million in advance payments to buy Vought Aircraft Industries’ Dreamliner operations in South Carolina in July.

“We are concerned about cash flow levels for the 787 and the potential for substantial rework on airplanes in production, should the test flight and certification process uncover necessary changes,” Douglas Harned, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst in New York, wrote in a note today.

The company sold $1.95 billion in bonds in July to ensure adequate liquidity to fund operations.

Program Charges

The 787 charge was $2.46 a share, higher than the $2.21 announced in August because of a change to the applicable tax rate, said Todd Blecher, a spokesman for the company. Earnings were also hurt by spending on the program of 14 cents a share in August and September.

The commercial-airplane unit’s loss was $2.84 billion, compared with year-earlier profit of $394 million, on sales of $7.88 billion.

The backlog fell to $254 billion from $257 billion as of June 30 as orders lagged behind deliveries and cancellations. Boeing reported 170 orders and 91 cancellations through September, leaving a net order book for the year so far of 79 planes, compared with 123 for Toulouse, France-based Airbus.

Deliveries Rise

The U.S. company this year has increased deliveries even as airlines canceled and deferred orders because of the recession. Shipments rose compared with last year’s third quarter, which was hurt by a two-month strike that started in September 2008 and by delays related to work on airplane galleys. The disruptions shaved 60 cents a share from earnings in the year- earlier quarter.

The company delivered 113 airliners last quarter, a 35 percent increase. Boeing, the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor, also built more Apache helicopters and satellites last quarter.

Boeing lost its top spot to Airbus in 2003 and was running one jet ahead of its rival in shipments through September. Deliveries, which trigger the bulk of payments, will rise this year to 480 to 485 aircraft, Boeing repeated today. Airbus has said it expects to ship about the same number.

Boeing said delivery slots are sold-out this year and it now only expects to provide $800 million in direct funding to customers, less than the $1 billion it had been predicting. That “implies that the aircraft financing market is improving,” wrote Macquarie Capital Inc. analyst Rob Stallard.

Boeing plans to scale back twin-aisle production next June, cutting 777 output by 29 percent to five planes a month and postponing planned increases in the 747 and 767 programs.

Defense Business

The defense business that accounts for more than half of the company’s revenue posted a 2.9 percent sales gain to $8.74 billion and a 3.6 percent increase in profit to $885 million.

The unit has a “weaker outlook” than competitors because the company is on the wrong set of programs as the Pentagon curbs spending, analyst Harned wrote in a note today.

The Defense Department has canceled parts of Boeing programs and scaled back others. Northrop Grumman Corp. beat Boeing on Oct. 1 for a $3.8 billion contract to maintain the U.S. Air Force’s KC-10 aerial refueling tanker fleet, and the two are still competing for a $35 billion order for the next generation of KC-135 tankers.

Northrop, the third-largest U.S. defense contractor, today said quarterly profit fell 4.3 percent to $490 million, or $1.53 a share, because of higher pension costs. The company raised its 2009 forecast.

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