FAA ALLOWS BOEING TO INCREASE 737 MAX PRODUCTION

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it will allow Boeing to produce more 737 Max airplanes by increasing the monthly limit that it imposed after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines jet that the company built.

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Boeing can now produce 42 Max jets per month, up from 38, after safety inspectors conducted extensive reviews of the aerospace company’s manufacturing lines to ensure an increase in production can be done safely, the FAA said.

The agency had set a cap on production shortly after the terrifying January 2024 incident involving the Alaska Airlines 737 Max jet. In practice, though, the production rate fell well below the ceiling last year as the company contended with investigations and a machinists’ strike that idled factories for almost eight weeks.

But Boeing said over the summer that it had reached the monthly cap in the second quarter and would eventually seek the FAA's permission to start producing more of the planes.