Boeing on Friday won permission to up its production of 737 Max aircraft to 42 jets per month, a significant victory for the manufacturer as it works to assuage concerns about the safety and reliability of its most-ordered type.
The FAA imposed a 38 aircraft-per-month cap on Boeing shortly after a door plug failed on a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines in January 2024. The agency also increased its oversight of Boeing’s facilities.
Company officials said at an investors’ conference in September that they expected the cap to be raised relatively soon, and CEO Kelly Ortberg predicted an eventual increase in production to about 47 Max jets in the near future.
CNN reported that FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford called Ortberg directly on Friday to tell him about the upward adjustment.
In a statement, the agency said its safety inspectors “conducted extensive reviews of Boeing’s production lines to ensure that this small production rate increase will be done safely.”
Boeing, already reeling from the fatal crashes of two 737 Max airplanes in 2018 and 2019, faced another crisis of confidence early last year after the door plug failure. Investigators determined that critical bolts were removed from the door assembly at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington, and were apparently not replaced before the aircraft returned to service.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) final report on the incident, released in July, assigned ultimate responsibility to Boeing for failing to provide adequate training and oversight for its workers.
The NTSB directed Boeing to continue the certification process for a design enhancement for the 737 Max’s mid-exit door plugs, revise its risk assessment process, and develop recurrent training for technicians centering on parts removal. As part of that training, the agency added, Boeing should develop a standard to determine when parts removal is necessary and create a system for documenting removals.
