RENTON (AFP) – Boeing expects to return production of the 737 MAX to 38 per month “within the next few months” after a January incident slowed output, the company’s Renton plant chief said.
“The production on the three assembly lines has slowed down” as Boeing focuses on quality control, said Katie Ringgold, vice president and general manager for the 737 programme and site leader at the Seattle-area factory in the United States.
“My focus is not rate, it’s on safety,” Ringgold told reporters who attended a tour designed to showcase Boeing’s efforts to boost quality control and safety.
The Federal Aviation Administration has limited Boeing to a monthly MAX output of 38 until it can demonstrate improvement.
But Boeing has been producing below that level while it upgrades operations. Ringgold did not specify an exact figure as to current monthly output. The production will “gradually increase to get back to 38”, said Ringgold.
