Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg says the planemaker is “off and rolling at the 47 rate’ after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) backed increasing production of the 737 program.
On May 27, 2026, at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, Ortberg told reporters that the company had “passed a capstone review for rate 47” with the FAA.
“We are now in the process of running the line at the 47-a-month rate,” Ortberg said, according to CNBC. “It’ll probably take us a few months of stabilization there […] My guess is we continue to go up in rate.”
Ortberg added that his ambition was to get to a production rate of 52 Boeing 737s a month and “someday to a 63-a-month rate”.
In October 2025, the FAA lifted a cap that limited Boeing to 38 aircraft per month, allowing production to gradually rise to 42 jets per month.
The cap was introduced in early 2024 following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 mid-air incident, which prompted the FAA to tighten oversight of Boeing’s manufacturing processes and supplier coordination.
According to Reuters, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford personally backed the new production ramp up from 42 to 47 aircraft a month.
“It’s important for the country that Boeing is successful. We are absolutely comfortable with 42 to 47 and I suspect in another 30, 60, 90 days we’re going to see continued rate increases,” Bedford told Reuters in Washington.
Bedford also commented on the certification of Boeing’s upcoming MAX 7 and MAX 10. The FAA head said he expected the MAX 7 to be approved this summer and the MAX 10 before the end of the year.
A fourth 737 MAX production line in Everett, Washington, will open this year and will play a leading role in Boeing’s manufacturing ambitions.
The North Line will mark the first time Boeing has built 737s in Everett rather than exclusively in Renton, Washington.