At an investor conference hosted by Morgan Stanley this week, Boeing’s CEO Ray Conner announced that Boeing is looking to increase 737 production to a whopping 52 a month as soon as 2018. Boeing is currently pushing 42 of its top-selling airliners out the door each month and had previously said that its production goal was 47. Conner told investors, “Now, I can tell you that the demand is there for those airplanes, significant demand. So I’m not uncomfortable with the timing or with rate.” Last week, Conner had hinted at upping the production rate when he alluded to “incredible pressure” to increase 737 production during his remarks at Reuter’s Aerospace and Defense Summit. By comparison, Airbus is currently turning out 46 of its A320 series each month and has said it is considering an increase on that number.
At the Morgan Stanley conference, Conner also said that the supply chain could handle the production demand and that a greater than 47-per-month rate had been discussed with suppliers. Boeing has a backlog of 4008 orders for the single-aisle jet-nearly eight years at current production levels. The current, fuel-efficient versions of the airliner-which originally entered service in 1968-have proven increasingly popular with customers, with the -700, -800 and -900ER versions now in production. More than 8000 737s have been delivered. A re-engined version, the 737 MAX, is expected in 2017.
