Boeing's Renton factory has resumed the production of its best selling narrow body jets, the B737 MAX on Friday. Its other facility in Everett, for the 767, 777 and 777X wide body production, will resume the production in the coming days.
Both the production facilities were shuttered for more than seven weeks after around 33,000 workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751 did not accept an initial contract offer in September.
The resumption statement is here as Boeing disclosed that it completed 13 new aircraft deliveries in the month of November 2024, which included nine MAX jets produced before the strike.
The statement was just one day after the head of the FAA, Mike Whitaker, said that production would resume later this month.
However, Aerospace major — Boeing's aircraft deliveries have been lagging against its previous year's data sheet and reputation, affecting revenues big time. Reportedly, Boeing could deliver just 318 aircraft untill Novemeber this year.
Production was affected for sure, not only due to the strike of machinists, but also due to many other techincal incidents that prompted US air safety regulators to step up the oversight of the company, that capped and slowed down the production.
The incidents included a mid-flight Alaska Airlines Boeing B737MAX9 aircraft door plug panel blowout that required an emergency landing in January 2024 leading to a fleet grounding.
After reports of resumption of the production of its B737 MAX jetliners last week, shares in struggling aerospace giant Boeing seen an upward trend on Tuesday.
They had to restart it as early as possible, Boeing has more than 4,000 orders for the 737 MAX aircraft, but production has been held back due to multiple factors, including supply chain issues and the infamous mid-air panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, as stated earlier.
Among those multiple factors, Safety concerns were major, those prompted the transport regulator to cap production at just 38 jetliners a month, and Whitaker has refused to indicate whether that limit would be removed any time soon.
In another development, after announcing plans in October, the company began notifying workers who would be laid off in November. Notices filed with state employment agencies showed the first round of cuts impacted about 3,500 people around the country
The layoffs follow a two-month strike by Boeing machinists, but CEO Kelly Ortberg clarified that the reductions were not related to the strike. “This was a result of overstaffing,” Ortberg said
Boeing has also announced that most of its employees would remain on the payroll for two months, which is, until February 21 for the latest round of lay offs.
On the production side, Boeing itself is working towards a production rate of 56 units a month, though it is unclear when that target will be met.
"Over the last several weeks, we dedicated time toward training and certifications, ensuring parts and tools are ready and completing work on airplanes in inventory to prepare to resume production at pre-stoppage rates," Boeing said.
Back in year 2018, Boeing managed to deliver 806 planes, n the year 2023, Boeing had delivered 528 planes which shows a depressing state of transactions at Boeing compared to Airbus.
Boeing's finances have been disturbed for sure, that forced company to raise more than $20 billion in new stock offerings and laying-off 10 percent of its employees.
However, in an encouraging news for Boeing, stocks were up nearly 5% at $164.80 by 1034 in New York, trading at levels not seen since late-August.
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