Boeing is restarting production of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, for the first hour since 33,000 workers began a seven-week furlough in early November.
The company said Tuesday that aircraft manufacturing had resumed at its plant in Renton, Washington, following a process to detect and resolve potential issues.
Boeing shares were up 5 percent in late-morning buying and selling.
The construction and delivery of the Max jet and other airline planes, including the 787 Dreamliner, has been protested several times recently over production defects.
“Our team has worked methodically to restart factory operations in the Pacific Northwest. We have now restarted 737 production at our Renton factory, with plans to follow through on our Everett (Washington) programs in the coming days, the company said in a statement.
At one time, the company said it took orders for 49 aircraft in November, but the U.K. Lost an order through. Service TUI for 14 MAX jets.
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Ever since a panel labeled a door plug flew off a Max operated by Alaska Airways in January, Federal Aviation Administration has limited production of Boeing’s Max jets to 38 at speed. Boeing hopes to convince regulators it has addressed quality and safety issues and increase the number of planes to 56 at speed.
Boeing has been bleeding cash since 2019, the next two Max jets crashed, killing 346 people. He wants to use the money he gets from turning around unused planes to start digging a deeper monetary hole.
Unemployed CEO Kelly Ortberg has announced plans to lay off about 17,000 employees and boost unused reserves in a bid to raise cash and prevent the company’s credit status from slipping into junk status.
