Boeing has resumed building 737 MAX aircraft after over two months of stunted production due to a 53-day machinists strike.
A Reuters report stated Monday that Boeing had restarted production of its 737 MAXs on Friday, about a month after strikes ended at the company’s manufacturing plants in the Pacific Northwest.
A Boeing spokesperson confirmed with AirlineGeeks that operations have restarted in the region.
“Our team has worked methodically to restart factory operations in the Pacific Northwest,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We have now resumed 737 production in our Renton factory, with our Everett programs on plan to follow in the days ahead.”
The spokesperson said Boeing had spent the last several weeks preparing to resume production.
“We used our Safety Management System to create program-specific plans to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential risks at each stage of the restart,” they continued. “Over the last several weeks, we dedicated time toward training and certification, ensuring parts and tools are ready, and completing work on airplanes in inventory to prepare for the resumption of production at pre-work stoppage levels.”
33,000 machinists with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union brought 737 MAX production to a halt in September when they went on strike demanding better pay and benefits.
The strikes were resolved nearly two months later through a new contract agreement, though production wouldn’t resume immediately.
Boeing was aiming to produce 38 of its 737 MAX jets per month prior to the strikes, down from 42 a month before January’s Alaska 1282 incident. Reuters reported that analysts from the Jefferies investment firm expect Boeing to produce an average of 29 737 MAX jets per month in 2025.
The company delivered 92 737s in Q3 2024, bringing the total to 229 year to date. Its competitor, Airbus, announced in its Q3 earnings report that it aims to produce 75 A320-series jets per month by October 2027.
