Boeing Co., Chicago, contributed $455 million to its pension plans in the quarter ended March 31, and the company plans to contribute an additional $545 million through the end of the year and another $500 million in 2006, according to a filing with the SEC. In 2004, it contributed $4.4 billion.
Boeing reported non-cash pension expense totaling $223 million in first quarter, up from $73 million for the same period in 2004, according to the filing. Boeing attributed the rise to "declining interest rates and negative pension asset returns in 2001 and 2002, the impact of which is amortized into earnings in future periods," according to another filing.
Boeing has $41 billion in pension assets, according to an April story in Pensions & Investments. Boeing had $42.7 billion in pension liabilities as of Sept. 30, 2004, according to its 10-K filing.
