Boeing targets 2025 for return to pre-crisis 737 MAX production rates

Boeing intends to restore production of its bestselling 737 MAX jet to its 2019 rate of 52 a month by January 2025 as it seeks to fully recover from two deadly crashes and the COVID-19 pandemic that curtailed output, two people familiar with the matter said. After increasing monthly MAX production rates to 38 in June, Boeing's current plans call for 42 MAXs a month by January 2024 and 47 by June 2024, the sources, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. The company previously said it wanted to return production to about 50 by 2025 or 2026, but a more specific ramp-up plan outlined for suppliers and seen by Reuters had not been reported. It currently builds 31 a month. Boeing, which has not provided details of its production plans, declined to comment. As Boeing fights to recover from those crises, faster rollouts of the lucrative MAX are seen as the most critical task for Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the unit's CEO Stan Deal, who told reporters in March production rates would rise from the current rate of 31 jets "very soon." If successful, the 52-production rate would mark the first time Boeing has manufactured the jet at that volume since 2019, when it curtailed monthly production to 42 planes in the wake of the crashes. The US planemaker further pared back MAX rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Success in achieving the 52-jet rate by January 2025 would allow Boeing to defend a 40% market share of the narrowbody market, which analysts see as the lowest level required to maintain a duopoly as its European rival Airbus also increases single-aisle production. Airbus, which on Thursday announced plans to build a new production line in China, expects to produce 65 single-aisle jets a month by the end of 2024 before ramping to its ultimate target of 75 a month in 2026.<br/>