New York (AFP) – Boeing is eyeing approvals for significantly higher production of the 737 MAX in 2025 after US authorities allowed increased output on the 787 plane, the company’s CEO said Thursday. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg stated that the company could win US approval to raise MAX output at mid-year and again at the end of 2025. The faster-than-expected timeframe boosted shares.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the last month green-lighted Boeing to produce seven 787 Dreamliner planes per month, up from five, Ortberg said at a financial conference. The FAA review is “the same process we’re going to use for the 737 MAX increase,” Ortberg noted. “So I feel pretty good, and we talked with the FAA extensively to make sure we’re aligned.” The FAA has currently capped Boeing’s MAX production at 38 per month.
The agency began more closely monitoring Boeing’s production processes following a January 2024 incident on an Alaska Airlines plane in which a window panel blew out mid-flight. The Alaska Airlines incident was the most significant involving a MAX plane since two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 spawned numerous lawsuits and government probes. Ortberg was recruited to Boeing last August following a leadership shakeup.
Boosting plane output is essential to returning Boeing to profitability after a series of losses. Ortberg is targeting a mid-year FAA approval to increase production to 42 per month for the MAX in light of improved production processes. That could set the stage for an FAA approval to 47 per month around the end of 2025, although the company would not begin producing that many planes in 2025, he said.
“Having said that, if we’re not ready we won’t do it,” Ortberg said. “Key performance indicators have to be there for us to move to the next rate. And you don’t know where you are until you move there, so we’ll see how things progress.” Ortberg also said Boeing was on track to complete FAA certification on the 777X and on new versions of the 737 MAX.
On tariffs, Ortberg reiterated that the company’s bigger worry surrounds potential retaliation from trading partners rather than the impact of the levies on manufacturing supplies. He said China had reversed a ban on airlines accepting Boeing planes following the de-escalation of the trade war between Washington and Beijing. “The first deliveries will be next month,” Ortberg said of Chinese carriers. Shares of Boeing jumped 4.4 percent in morning trading.
© 2024 AFP
