By David Shepardson and Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Boeing can hike 737 MAX production to 42 planes per month after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted a 38 plane-per-month cap that had been in place since January 2024, the agency and planemaker said on Friday.
The FAA imposed the unprecedented production cap shortly after a 2024 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 that was missing four key bolts, revealing widespread production safety and quality lapses at Boeing.
Increasing deliveries of its popular single-aisle airplane is critical to restoring Boeing’s financial stability following years of production disruptions and crises that have left it deep in debt and losing money. Planemakers receive the bulk of a customer’s payment when they hand over an airplane.
The FAA said on Friday its safety inspectors “conducted extensive reviews of Boeing’s production lines to ensure that this small production rate increase will be done safely.”
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford called Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg on Friday to confirm the planemaker could raise the rate to 42 planes, a person briefed on the matter said.
Boeing plans to quickly begin producing planes at a rate of 42 per month.
Workers at the company’s Seattle-area factories have been preparing to increase the 737 production rate by adding equipment for greater capacity, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Boeing said it appreciated “the work by our team, our suppliers and the FAA to ensure we are prepared to increase production with safety and quality at the forefront.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Dan Catchpole in Seattle and Allison Lampert in Montreal;Editing by Rod Nickel)
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