Recovery from Boeing’s attack will take weeks

NEW YORK— Boeing said Tuesday it delivered 14 planes in October, but it will likely take several weeks for production to return to normal after a workers’ strike hit operations at two major assembly plants.

In the first ten months of the year, Boeing says it delivered 305 aircraft, compared to 405 in the same period last year.

The company also received 63 gross orders in October.

TAKE YOUR TIME Workers work on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft at the Boeing Renton factory in Renton, Washington, on March 27, 2019. Boeing said on November 12, 2024 that production will take several weeks to fully recover from a seven-week workers’ strike those affected operations. AFP PHOTO

About 33,000 workers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest walked off their jobs on September 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting an initial contract offer, sparking the costliest strike in the United States this century.

After a hiatus of more than seven weeks that cost the aviation giant billions, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751 said it had approved a new contract proposal.

The Boeing staff could return as early as November 6 and should be back to work on November 12, according to the IAM.

Production of the company’s best-selling 737 MAX, as well as the 777, was halted by the strike. Production of the 787 Dreamliner continued at a factory on the east coast of the United States.

Boeing said Tuesday that it would take several weeks before it fully restarts aircraft production, as restarting a production line is a multi-stage process.

The company added that it was working to safely restart operations in Washington and Oregon.

New customer

Boeing’s gross orders for October include 40 737 MAX 8 aircraft for Avia Solutions Group, in a transaction valued at approximately $4.9 billion.

Avia’s first firm order with the aviation giant includes an option to add another 40 aircraft later, Boeing and Avia said in a statement Tuesday.

“We are committed to a strategic approach to expanding our capacity to meet our customers’ seasonal needs, and our first order with Boeing is a key pillar of that,” said Gediminas Ziemelis, chairman of the aviation services group.

The versatile 737 family is Boeing’s bestseller. The 737 MAX 8 can seat 162 to 210 passengers with a range of up to 6,480 kilometers (approximately 4,000 miles).

The strike in the US Pacific Northwest had worsened the company’s already precarious prospects after an incident in January in which a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX.

Although there were no major injuries, the episode plunged Boeing into another crisis after two previous fatal MAX crashes, with U.S. air safety regulators limiting production until the company shows it has its act together.

Boeing announced a management change in March, including the departure of CEO Dave Calhoun, who was replaced in August by former Rockwell Collins chief Kelly Ortberg.

But as the strike continued, the stoppage threatened Ortberg’s turnaround efforts.

With the strike in the rearview mirror, Boeing has overcome two major problems after a successful effort to raise more than $20 billion in capital, analysts previously noted.

All eyes are now on Boeing’s prospects for increasing commercial aircraft production.