Boeing CEO says he wants to crank up 737 MAX production rate through rest of year

Boeing aims to increase production of its best-selling 737 MAX jets to 42 aircraft per month in the next few months and to boost output to 47 a month in early 2026, Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said on Thursday.

The U.S. planemaker's share price jumped 5% after Ortberg said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference that he hoped to have production at 47 a month by the end of 2025. A few minutes later, he corrected his comments, saying that he expects the company to be getting ready to increase production to that level by the end of the year, not reach that level.

Boeing is trying to stabilize production at 38/month, where it was capped by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in 2024 after a midair accident put the planemaker's safety and production quality program under new scrutiny.

Production defects on the 737 program are down by 30%, he said. "Virtually every one of our customers is reporting a higher quality of airplane at delivery."

Increasing production is critical to getting Boeing back to being cash positive, which Ortberg has previously said he expects to achieve in the second half of the year. It burned through $2.3 billion in cash during the first quarter.

"I think the financial performance will follow the production performance of the company, and I think we need to think about it that way," Ortberg said.

The company is making progress on certifying the smallest and largest MAX variants with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, he said. The MAX 7 and MAX 10 have been delayed in part due to concerns with the engine de-icing system. The company should finish critical testing of its fix by July, allowing time to certify the aircraft by the end of the year, he said.  

Boeing's backlog includes nearly 1,200 orders for the 737 MAX 10 and 332 orders for the MAX 7.

Ortberg also said that Chinese airlines are set to resume taking deliveries of Boeing aircraft in June. China had stopped taking deliveries in April in retaliation to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Boeing expects the impacts of the tariffs to be less than $500 million, he said.