Boeing boosts 737 shipments from 6-year low as parts jam eases

Boeing delivered 48 of its 737 narrow-body jetliners in August, rebounding from a 6-year low as the planemaker tackled production snags on its largest source of profit. Total commercial-aircraft shipments rose to 64 last month from 39 in July, Boeing said Tuesday. While the 737 deliveries were 4 shy of the monthly production rate, they were an improvement from the 29 planes shipped a month earlier as parts shortages and out-of-sequence work ballooned at a Seattle-area factory. The July figure was the lowest for any month since 2012. The company blamed late deliveries of fuselages from Spirit AeroSystems and engines from a GE-Safran joint venture for the 50-odd aircraft parked in nooks and crannies around the Renton, Washington, factory and an adjacent air field. <br/>