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Boeing is exploring increasing production of its 737 aircraft family well beyond the peak 63-jet monthly rate that it has publicly disclosed, a lofty target that would test the resilience of the supply chain it shares with rival Airbus as well as airlines’ ability to absorb record deliveries.
The U.S. plane maker is drafting plans and assessing whether suppliers could support building its narrowbody at around a 70-jet monthly pace, people close to the discussions tell The Air Current. The studies are at an early stage and the higher cadence may not be adopted, they cautioned.
The nascent plans would put Boeing’s production on a trajectory approaching the 75-jet monthly target for 2027 that Airbus has repeatedly set and postponed for its A320neo family. If it’s successful, Boeing would generate more cash while potentially chipping into Airbus’s lead in the critical market segment that the European manufacturer has dominated for more than a decade.
Related: Boeing faces good and bad news as it plots 737, 787 production hikes
But neither plane maker has ever built commercial jets at the scale they are contemplating. The duopolists want to make the most of order books that are sold out well into the 2030s: Airbus had 7,354 unfilled orders for its A320 program against Boeing’s 4,872 single-aisle tally at the end of April. Demand for the workhorse planes surged in the rapid travel rebound that followed the Covid pandemic and still outstrips the ability of either company to manufacture the aircraft, although Airbus’s larger backlog would likely allow it to run at its peak rate for longer.
The question is whether suppliers will continue to keep pace as Boeing steps up 737 rates every six months or so. So far, the company has kept close to the targeted dates in the master schedule it set for suppliers last year as it restarted production after a nearly two-month strike in 2024 crippled its Seattle-area commercial jet factories. The real test lies ahead.
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