Boeing poised to hike 737 output ‘soon’ as tail glitch fades

\Boeing Co. is preparing to accelerate production of its cash-cow 737 jets “soon,” the planemaker’s commercial chief said, as the company makes progress toward addressing a supplier defect that has slowed deliveries.

The rate break to a 38-jet monthly pace will happen “sooner rather than later,” Stan Deal, who heads Boeing’s commercial airplane business, said Sunday in Paris ahead of the industry’s biggest gathering. He declined to say whether the 23% uptick — which would boost Boeing revenue — would happen by the end of this month or in the third quarter.

Boeing’s second-quarter results will likely be weighed down by production defects that have disrupted work at its factories and slowed deliveries of another critical source of cash, the twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner.

The planemaker is working its way through workforce and supplier issues in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that have led to cost overruns on fixed-price defense contracts and frustrated customers for its commercial aircraft. 

Ted Colbert, who heads Boeing’s defense division, also spoke ahead of this week’s Paris Air Show. He said the unit’s profit margins for the second quarter would be in line with the 3.2% operating loss posted in the first quarter.

Among the latest setbacks on the commercial side is a supplier shimming issue that’s disrupted handovers of the 787 as airlines head into the busy sumer travel season. 

The planemaker has delivered the first 787 to be inspected and repaired for the issue, Deal said. Meanwhile, the horizontal stabilizers flowing to Boeing’s South Carolina assembly line from the unnamed supplier have been cleared of the defective parts, he added.

Aircraft Concepts

The planemaker has also begun to lay the groundwork for a new generation of aircraft that won’t reach the market until the mid-2030s. Among the concepts it’s studying are an ultra-long wing, supported by a truss; CFM International’s RISE open-fan engine; and more conventional turbofans, Deal said.