By Valerie Insinna and David Shepardson
SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Boeing Co told employees on Monday that it will add a new 737 MAX production line in Everett, Washington, in mid-2024 as it plans to ramp up deliveries of its best-selling plane.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal said in an email seen by Reuters that the new line will be its fourth 737 MAX one and is needed because of “strong product demand.”
Boeing is reactivating its third 737 MAX line in Renton, Washington, Deal’s email added.
Boeing booked nearly 700 MAX orders last year, delivered 387 737s and has a total backlog of about 3,600 MAX airplanes.
“In addition to preparing the facility, we have begun the process of notifying and preparing our suppliers, customers, unions and employees as we take the necessary steps to create a new line,” Deal said. “We are methodically working through all of our checks and balances keeping safety and quality top of mind.”
Boeing said this month it has stabilized 737 production at 31 per month with plans to ramp production to approximately 50 per month in the 2025 to 2026 timeframe.
Deal referenced the decision of Congress in December to lift a deadline imposing a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for two new versions of the 737 MAX aircraft.
The planemaker had been heavily lobbying for months to persuade lawmakers to waive the deadline covering the MAX 7 and MAX 10 airplanes, which was imposed by Congress in 2020 after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Boeing had said the fate of the two new planes was in jeopardy without action from Congress.
Deal’s email cited the support of unions for the waiver including the International Association of Machinists (IAM)
Earlier this month, IAM International President Robert Martinez said the union “relentlessly fought for this extension that will ensure the livelihoods of thousands of Machinists in the aerospace sector.”
The legislation requires Boeing to retrofit existing MAX 8 and 10 planes with new safety enhancements. Boeing said the costs of the retrofits will be “small.”
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said this month the company thinks “first delivery for the 7 will be this year and probably for the 10 the next year.”
(Reporting by Valerie Insinna in Seattle and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)
