Boeing resumes production at Seattle plants after strike

Workers picketing outside a Boeing facility during a strike in Everett, Washington. The stoppage cost the beleaguered aviation giant billions. Photo / M. Scott Brauer, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Boeing has resumed production on the 737 Max after a nearly three-month stoppage due to a lengthy labour strike in the Seattle region.

The company’s Renton factory resumed production late last week, Boeing said.

Its Everett facility, where the 767, 777 and 777X are produced, will resume operations in coming days.

The two plants were shuttered for more than seven weeks after about 33,000 workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751 voted down an initial contract offer in September.

On November 4, workers ratified a revised proposal, setting the stage for a resumption of work.

Boeing said it has been working “methodically” to ensure a safe restoration of activity.

US air safety regulators have stepped up oversight of the company following several incidents, including a mid-flight Alaska Airlines panel blowout that required an emergency landing in January.

“Over the last several weeks, we dedicated time toward training and certifications, ensuring parts and tools are ready and completing work on airplanes in inventory to prepare to resume production at pre-stoppage rates,” Boeing said.

The statement came as Boeing disclosed it made 13 new plane deliveries in November, including nine Max jets produced before the strike.

But Boeing’s deliveries have lagged its historic trend, pinching revenues.

Boeing has delivered 318 jets in all through the first 11 months of the year.

In 2023, it delivered 528 planes. In 2018, it delivered 806.

Boeing’s travails have dented its financial outlook, resulting in the company raising more than US$20 billion ($34.5b) in new stock offerings this fall and trimming its workforce by 10%.

In recent weeks Boeing notified 4700 US workers they would be laid off, including nearly 2600 in the Seattle region, according to figures compiled by AFP.

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