Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is preparing to ask federal regulators to increase production of its 737 MAX planes later this year, according to a report from CNBC.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on Wednesday that the company would seek FAA approval to raise the number of MAX jets it produces to 42 per month. The aircraft company has been limited to building 38 MAX planes a month since a safety incident saw a door plug blow off one of the jets mid-flight in January 2024.
Boeing is still working to reach its current production threshold for the MAX of delivery 38 planes each month. “We’re producing Maxes at about 31 a month right now, low thirties,” Ortberg said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. “We will be ramping up here over the next few months, and get to a 38-a-month rate. We’re capped there with the FAA, but we have a plan to move beyond that yet this year.”
The company will aim to get federal approval to build 42 planes a month by the end of 2025, with plans to keep increasing the monthly limit after that. “We will increase at five airplanes a month when we go through the rate increases,” Ortberg said. “So the first one will be 38 to 42. The next rate increase, likely about six months after the first rate increase, will be from 42 to 47, and we want to be in the mid-50s when we get production stabilized.”
Since taking the helm of the company in August 2024, Ortberg has been trying to steer Boeing out of several crises regarding the MAX planes, which include the door plug incident and multiple crashes with the plane in previous years.
The company also had to contend with a worker strike last fall that slowed production of several aircraft types, including the 737 MAX. That strike ended in November 2024.
On Wednesday, Boeing reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings. So far in 2025, its airplane deliveries have increased by 57 percent year-over-year to 130 planes delivered in Q1. The higher delivery rate was one factor that helped Boeing shore up its balance sheet, as the company reported an 18 percent jump in revenue and a smaller net-loss of $31 million in the first quarter.
Despite its high-profile incidents, the 737 MAX is currently Boeing’s best-selling plane.
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