Boeing  (BA)  posted its first quarterly profit in more than two years Wednesday, thanks in part to the post-pandemic rebound in commercial aviation sending shares in the world's biggest planemaker sharply higher in pre-market trading.

Boeing said its adjusted core profit for the three months ending in June was pegged at 40 cents per share, up from a loss of $4.79 per share over the same period last year and blasting the Street consensus forecast of an 83 cents per share loss. The gain marks the first profitable quarter since early 2019.

Group revenues, Boeing said, rose 44% from last year to $17 billion, again topping analysts' forecasts of a $16.54 billion tally.

"We continued to make important progress in the second quarter as we focus on driving stability across our operations and transforming our business for the future," said CEO David Calhoun. "While our commercial market environment is improving, we're closely monitoring COVID-19 case rates, vaccine distribution and global trade as key indicators for our industry's stability."

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"As we continue to position for a robust recovery, we remain committed to safety and quality, while investing in our people, products and technology," he added. "I am proud of our team's resilience and commitment as we work to rebuild trust, improve our performance and deliver for our commercial, defense, space and services customers."  

Boeing shares were marked 5.2% higher in early trading following the earnings release to change hands at $233.80 each.

Boeing said Wednesday that its current order backlog edged lower on the quarter, to $363 billion, but noted that the commercial airlines portion of the tally rose to $285 billion thanks to 180 net new orders. 

"Commercial Airplanes secured orders for 200 737 aircraft for United Airlines, 34 737 aircraft for Southwest Airlines, and a total of 31 freighter aircraft," Boeing said. "Commercial Airplanes delivered 79 airplanes during the quarter and backlog included over 4,100 airplanes valued at $285 billion."

Late last month, United Airlines  (UAL)  confirmed plans to buy a total of 270 new planes from both Boeing and Airbus  (EADSY) for around $30 billion in the largest single aircraft deal in the carrier's history.

Boeing has also found support from a move by U.S. and European officials resolved a 17-year trade dispute centered around subsides linked to the planemaker and its Paris-based rival last month.

The two-decade long dispute, which came to a head with a World Trade Organization ruling in 2019 that gave the U.S. the greenlight to apply tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of European made goods, centers around alleged unfair subsides for Airbus from Brussels and tax breaks from Washington for Boeing, each of which compete for the title of world's biggest planemaker in the now recovering market.