Boeing faces good and bad news as it plots 737, 787 production hikes

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For Boeing, there’s good and bad news as it works to reap cash from its 737 and 787 jets by stepping up the pace of work in its factories.

The company expects to return production of its 737 aircraft to a 47-jet monthly pace this summer after passing a capstone review of the program with U.S. regulators, Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive officer, told a Bernstein conference Wednesday. Planning is already under way for a series of subsequent rate increases that will ramp up output of its cash-cow jet every half year or so, helping to turnaround Boeing’s finances.

Under Ortberg, the U.S. planemaker is working to restore quality and reliability in its factories while rebuilding the trust of regulators and customers after two fatal 737 Max crashes and a series of damaging quality lapses. The glut of parts that were stockpiled as production slowed during its years of crisis cushioned Boeing from some of the supplier strains that are snarling rival Airbus’s A320neo family deliveries.

“There’s nothing I’d point out to you that I’m overly concerned about with these next rate increases,” Ortberg said of immediate supplier issues for the 737 program.

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