In This Story
Machinists at Boeing (BA+2.09%) ended their strike a month ago, but the company still isn’t back to building its key 737 Max model. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, told Reuters in an interview that the plane maker has yet to restart production.
“They’re still not producing airplanes, because they’re focused on their workforce, the training, making sure they have the supply chain sorted out,” he said.
After a door plug blew out mid-flight on a Boeing 737 Max 9 earlier this year, the FAA stepped in and mandated that the company slow down how many of the planes it builds. Each month, Boeing is capped at a maximum output of 38 of the planes. While that has caused delivery delays, the FAA imposed the reduced capacity because it thought Boeing had significant safety and quality control issues to address. The agency has also been increasing the number of inspectors it uses to monitor Boeing’s manufacturing processes.
“We really get great visibility on that journey up from 0 to 38 to see how they’re doing,” Whitaker told Reuters.
Boeing’s machinists were on strike for two months to gain higher wages. After multiple contract offers were rejected, introducing a great deal of uncertainty into Boeing’s outlook on its future, members of the machinists’ union ratified a contract that would see them getting 38% more money.
During Boeing’s most recent earnings call in October, CEO Kelly Ortberg said that he is “encouraged with the progress we’re making already” in satisfying the FAA enough to raise its capacity limits, and that “we need to continue that momentum.”
His company is facing a lot of challenges, but he thinks he can surmount them.
“This is a big ship that’ll take some time to turn,” he said on the call. “But when it does, it has the capacity to be great again.”