Inside the Boeing 737 Factory Shaping the Pace of Airline Growth

As Boeing cautiously emerges from one of the most closely scrutinized periods in its history, the aircraft manufacturer says it is ready to move from stabilization to growth. 

Speaking to Skift during a factory walk-through at Boeing’s Renton facility in Washington State, Katie Ringgold, general manager for the 737 program, said the company’s narrowbody production system is being run with discipline rather than urgency. It’s a shift she said is enabling Boeing to steadily raise output after nearly two years of heightened safety oversight.

January 2024’s Alaska Airlines blowout incident triggered increased surveillance of Boeing’s safety practices by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA capped 737 production at 38 aircraft per month; the company was cleared to raise output to 42 aircraft last November.

As a workhorse aircraft for airlines worldwide, the slower production rate has constrained growth plans across much of the industr