In this articleBAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTA Boeing Co. 737 Max airplane at the company’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, US, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBoeing is set to report this week that it delivered the most airplanes since 2018 last year after it stabilized its production, the clearest sign of a turnaround yet after years of safety crises and snowballing quality defects. Now, the aerospace giant is planning to ramp up production.”It’s a long road back from a … shall we say, a rather dysfunctional culture, but they’re making big progress,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace industry consulting firm.Boeing was forced to scale back production in recent years following two fatal crashes of its popular 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019 and a midair blowout of a door plug from one of its planes in the first week of 2024. The Covid pandemic snarled airplane assembly at both Boeing and its chief rival, Airbus, with supply chain delays and loss of experienced workers, even after the worst of the health crisis subsided.A Boeing 737 approaches San Diego International for a landing, May 10, 2025.Kevin Carter | Getty ImagesBoeing’s leaders, including CEO Kelly Ortberg — a longtime aerospace executive who came out of retirement to take the top job months after the midair door plug accident — are gearing up to increase production this year of its cash cow 737 Max aircraft and the longer-range 787 Dreamliners.That could help the manufacturer, the top U.S. exporter by value, return to profitability, as analysts expect this year, territory that was out of reach for seven years as its leaders focused on damage control and were stuck reassuring frustrated airline executives who were awaiting late planes.Their tone has changed as Boeing has become more predictable and increased production, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s blessing. In a sign of the FAA’s increased confidence in Boeing, the agency in September said Boeing could issue its own air worthiness certificates before customers receive some of its 737s and 787s after years of restrictions.Boeing’s commercial aircraft business is its largest unit, accounting for about 46% of sales in the first nine months of last year, with the rest coming from its defense and services business. Boeing last reported a full-year profit in 2018.Investors are optimistic for further improvement. Boeing shares have gained 36% over the last 12 months, outpacing the S&P 500’s nearly 20% advance. “Boeing is definitely better and more stable,” said Bob Jordan, CEO of all-Boeing airline Southwest Airlines, in an interview Dec. 10. The company is scheduled to outline its production plans for 2026 later this month when it reports quarterly results on Jan. 27.Getting into gearFor Boeing, the recent turnaround has taken place largely on the assembly floor. Under Ortberg, the manufacturer has slashed so-called traveled work, in which assembly tasks are done out of order, to avoid costly mistakes. The company has made other manufacturing changes, as well, including added training.The National Transportation Safety Board in June said inadequate training and management oversight had been among the problems at the company, according to its investigation into what led to the door plug blowout in January 2024.On Dec. 8, Boeing also completed its acquisition of fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems, which Boeing had spun out of the company two decades ago. It now has more direct control of the crucial supplier.Moving out jetsBoeing handed over 537 aircraft in the first 11 months of last year. It reports December deliveries on Tuesday, but Jefferies estimates the company delivered 61 commercial jets last month, 44 of them Boeing’s bestseller, the 737 Max.[embedded content]Boeing delivered 348 aircraft in 2024 and 528 in 2023. Last year’s total would still be far off the 806 airplanes it handed over in 2018.Last October, the FAA raised its production cap on Boeing’s 737 Max from 38 a month to 42. (The FAA required its sign-off after the door plug accident.) CFO Jay Malave said at a UBS conference on Dec. 2 that he expects the company to get to that rate in early 2026. Ortberg told investors in October that further rate increases are on the table, in increments of five planes.Kelly Ortberg, chief executive officer of Boeing Co., during a media event at the Boeing Delivery Center in Seattle, Washington, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. M. Scott Brauer | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesHandovers to airlines in 2026 will likely be new production, compared with clearing out older inventory, Malave had said. Boeing is also likely to produce about eight Dreamliners a month as of early this year, he added.Deliveries are key for airplane makers, because airlines and other customers pay the bulk of an airplane’s price when they receive the aircraft. Boeing’s chief competitor, Airbus, is scheduled to report 2025 …
