By David Shepardson
OSHKOSH, Wisconsin (Reuters) -The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Boeing has not yet asked the agency to remove a 38-plane per month cap on 737 MAX production and will review the planemaker’s supply chain before making any decision.
The FAA imposed the production cap shortly after a January 2024 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 missing four key bolts.
“We’re going to want to look at the entire supply chain,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters on the sidelines of an air show, praising Boeing’s efforts to improve its culture and adding he would not be surprised if Boeing asks to raise the rate.
“I believe it’s real, but it’s still embryonic,” Bedford said of the planemaker’s improvements. “We want to see long-term trends, healthy workforce, healthy safety culture. And then we want to see real factory improvements.”
Boeing did not immediately comment.
The FAA in May extended by three years a program that allows Boeing to perform some tasks on the agency’s behalf like inspections, saying the planemaker had made improvements.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in May the planemaker is “pretty confident” that it can increase production of its best-selling 737 MAX jets to 42 a month.
Bedford also notes that the FAA is currently considering certifying the smallest and largest MAX variants — the MAX 7 and MAX 10. Bedford said Boeing realizes getting the job done right the first time “actually is the cheapest way to make the plane…. I think they see real value in changing the culture on the shop floor, getting the defect rates down.”
But he is not ready to ease oversight. “It’s all trending in the right direction. It’s all very encouraging, but we’re a long ways away from saying we can let our guard down,” Bedford said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft)
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