Boeing has resumed production of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, for the first time since early November when 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike.
The company said on Tuesday it had resumed aircraft manufacturing at its factory in Renton, Washington, after going through a process to identify and resolve potential issues.
Boeing shares rose 5% in early trading.
Production and deliveries of the Max jet and another airline plane, the 787 Dreamliner, have been halted multiple times in recent years to fix manufacturing defects.
“Our teams are working methodically to restart factory operations in the Pacific Northwest. We have now resumed 737 production at our Renton facility, with our Everett (Washington) program scheduled to follow in the coming days,” the company said in a statement.
Separately, the company said it received orders for 49 aircraft in November but lost an order for 14 Max jets from British Airways TUI.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has limited Boeing Co.’s Max production to 38 aircraft per month after a panel called a door jam blew out of a Max jet operated by Alaska Airlines in January. Boeing hopes to convince regulators it has corrected quality and safety problems and can increase the number of planes to 56 a month.
Boeing has been losing money since two Max jets crashed in 2019, killing 346 people. It needs to generate cash by delivering new aircraft to begin to emerge from serious financial troubles.
New Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg announced plans to lay off about 17,000 employees and sell new stock to raise cash and prevent the company’s credit rating from slipping into junk territory.
