Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is considering plans to significantly increase monthly production of its most popular 737 aircraft, according to a Thursday report from the Air Current.
The company is developing strategies and evaluating whether its supply partners could handle boosting manufacturing of its single-aisle planes to approximately 70 units each month, sources with knowledge of the situation told the publication.
Such an ambitious manufacturing goal would challenge the strength of Boeing’s supplier network and move the company’s production objectives much closer to competitor Airbus’s manufacturing targets for its comparable single-aisle aircraft lineup.
According to the report, these evaluations remain in preliminary phases and the increased production rate might not be implemented.
Last month, the American aircraft manufacturer announced it would increase 737 MAX production to 47 units monthly, up from 42, following discussions with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
“We’re off and rolling at the 47 rate, and we should be there in the next couple months,” CEO Kelly Ortberg stated during the Bernstein conference in May.
Boeing representatives directed inquiries to Ortberg’s previous conference statements when asked for additional comment.
Airbus has maintained long-standing goals of producing 75 A320neo-family aircraft monthly but has consistently delayed this timeline due to supply chain challenges. The company now projects reaching 70-75 monthly units by late 2027, with intentions to maintain steady production at 75 units afterward.
Currently, Airbus manufactures approximately 60 single-aisle jets per month on average.
