Make Boeing iconic again! It is a bold goal from a tarnished American icon, and one that shareholders — who have seen Boeing stock halve in five years — can no doubt get behind. To make it more than just talk, new chief executive Kelly Ortberg will need manufacturing brilliance, patience and an awful lot of cash.

Ortberg has some immediate problems. Boeing made a loss of $8bn in the first nine months of the year. Striking workers and unfinished planes languishing in hangers intensify the rate at which its cash is going up in smoke. Some 33,000 machinists were due to vote on a new pay package on Wednesday. Even if they agree to go back to work, Boeing remains mired in production problems.

It is worth thinking through what an iconic-again Boeing would look like. In 2018, before the company was hobbled by two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX and a guilty plea for criminal fraud, Boeing made a record $101bn in revenue, delivering 806 commercial planes. This year so far it has made $51bn and delivered 291. Back at its peak, the company made $14bn of free cash flow; this year and next year, that number will be negative.