Boeing restarts 737 MAX production a month after strike ended: sources

Getting the 737 MAX manufacturing line transferring over again is predominant to the closely debt-burdened planemaker’s recovery, and Boeing has about 4,200 orders for the jetliner from airlines tantalizing to meet growing world ask for air run

Reuters

10 December, 2024, 12:25 pm

Final modified: 10 December, 2024, 12:28 pm

Boeing restarted manufacturing of its finest-selling 737 MAX jetliner final week, a pair of month after the discontinue of a seven-week strike by 33,000 manufacturing facility workers, in accordance with three sources conscious of the topic.

Getting the 737 MAX manufacturing line transferring over again is predominant to the closely debt-burdened planemaker’s recovery, and Boeing has about 4,200 orders for the jetliner from airlines tantalizing to meet growing world ask for air run.

Production resumed on Friday, acknowledged one of the predominant sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity resulting from they weren’t licensed to keep up a correspondence with media. Boeing declined to comment.

The manufacturing restart had now not been beforehand reported.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, told Reuters on Thursday that Boeing had now not yet resumed 737 MAX manufacturing but deliberate to save so later this month.

The company’s plans to extend 737 MAX manufacturing to a focused 56 airplanes a month have been stymied by a series of setbacks along with two fatal crashes, the COVID-19 pandemic, provide chain problems, manufacturing safety concerns and increased regulatory scrutiny, along with basically the most common strike.

The FAA capped manufacturing at 38 737 MAX planes per month in January after a door panel missing four key bolts flew off an Alaska Airways 737 MAX 9 for the length of a flight that month, exposing serious safety concerns at Boeing.

Whitaker final week declined to claim when he thought the FAA would restore Boeing’s capability to save more than 38 planes per month, but acknowledged he could well well be taken aback if it became lower than quite lots of months earlier than the company will get stop to the 38 maximum.

Jefferies analysts inquire of Boeing will save a median of 29 737 MAX planes per month in 2025, they acknowledged in a show to customers on Sunday.