By Howard Hardee • Editor
September 16, 2026
With Boeing’s planned aircraft production rate increases highly in focus, company executives say their most immediate concerns are not external supply chain constraints.
Rather, the company’s own wing production has been a pinch point recently for the 737 Max program, which is attempting to stabilize at a monthly production rate of 47 aircraft before it expands to 52 737s per month—thanks to added capacity from the new North Line in Everett, Washington.
But reaching a production rate of 47 single-aisle jets in Renton has taken longer than expected, according to CEO Kelly Ortberg, who told investors and analysts at the Morgan Stanley Laguna conference on September 16 that “we’re not stable yet” at that rate.
Boeing reaching a rate of 52 737s per month by the end of 2026, as the company had previously set as a target, now appears unlikely.
The first aircraft, a 737 Max 10 bound for WestJet, loaded onto the new North Line as pictured on July 8 in Everett, Washington. Photo credit: Jennifer Buchanan/Seattle Times/Pool
Ortberg said that the supply chain is in good shape to support Boeing’s planned 737 rate increases, including an adequate supply of turbofans and engine parts from CFM International. Wing production has not kept pace with intended 737 rate increases, though.
“The area where we’re constrained right now is our wings production,” he said. “We actually produce all our wings in Renton for our Max line, and we just have not seen the flow improvements that we expected in this time frame. So, it’s taking us a little bit longer.
“Having said that, we’ve got plans in place to go address that and move to the next rate,” he added. “I think we’re in pretty good shape from a supply chain [perspective] to actually move to the next rate once we get some of these flow enablers behind us.”
Seeking Stability at Rate 47
Boeing is working to secure production line certification for the North Line from the FAA, while Renton works toward producing the rate of 47 Max jets per month.
“We need to have [the North Line] producing to get to rate 52,” Ortberg said. “Think about stabilizing at rate 47 in Renton, then getting the North Line certified and producing.”
The targeted rate of 52 Max jets per month is especially significant since it was the highest-ever rate achieved by the program prior to the Max crisis of 2018-19. Boeing is not particularly close to that rate, however.
In August, the airframer delivered 41 737 Max jets to airlines—two fewer than the prior month, according to Cirium production data.
George Ferguson, an aerospace analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, noted in a recent research report that there is usually a seasonal slowdown in August and September for both Airbus and Boeing. (For comparison, Airbus delivered 43 A320neo-family jets in August.)
All of the 737s Boeing delivered in August were “likely new builds,” meaning that “none came from stored inventory,” Ferguson said.
Across its commercial segment, Boeing is still sitting on “pretty high levels of inventory,” Ortberg said.
“In terms of supply chain constraints on Max [aircraft], I’m not so worried about our new-term constraints,” he said. “Once we get to [monthly rate] 52 and 57, that’s when you’re going to see the supply chain more aligned with us relative to inventories. We need to see stability out of our wing shop.”
Ortberg did not get more specific about what is plaguing wing production in Renton.
Working Through Inventory
Jay Malave, Boeing’s chief financial officer, provided more details on the financial strategy surrounding clearing excess inventory on the commercial side.
For example, Boeing has already produced a combined total of more than 30 737 Max 7s and Max 10s, deliveries of which have been tripped up by years of FAA certification delays. And it is currently building more Max 7s and Max 10s, with certification of the former variant already in hand.
Those jets will likely start being delivered to customers starting early next year, drawing down Boeing’s 737 inventory over an 18-month period.
In August, Boeing secured an amended type certificate for the 737 Max 7 from the FAA. Photo credit: Boeing
Malave sees the aircraft-in-waiting—and the company’s materials in storage—as an opportunity to unlock working capital.
“You think about what we’re trying to accomplish, and it’s quite obvious,” he said. “You look at our balance sheet, since it’s a lot of inventory for the level of activity that the company is actually producing and delivering. When you look at, say, BCS—by far the largest element of inventory we have—and you’ve really got to…figure out a way in terms of feathering the productivity and the improvements in inventory in such a way that enables the rate increases.”
Malave added that Boeing will seek to keep inventory “at least flat as you’re increasing rate through better productivity. Again, how do you do that to make sure you don’t interrupt those rate increases you’re trying to accomplish?”
‘Catching Up to Profitability’
Pre-built Max 7s and Max 10s are not all Boeing has sitting in storage. Malave acknowledges that “we certainly have excess inventory of certain commodities” due to the severe supply chain constraints of 2023-24 that made it prudent to stockpile parts, components and materials.
“We did that as a function of where we were a couple of years ago,” he said. “And it’s the same thing—how do you feather that down while not taking your suppliers at too low a rate relative to what you’re operating at, and where you’re going to? That’ll take multiple years to come down.”
The opportunity lies in “multiple billions of dollars” waiting to be unlocked, Malave said, adding that trimming inventory is “something we’re pretty focused on.”
Another delicate part of the dance is Boeing’s practice of deferred production, a method of spreading an aircraft program’s production costs across the decades-long life of the program. As Leeham News and Analysis has previously reported, Boeing is working through a period of low-margin deliveries as aircraft promised to airlines years ago now come attached with compensation penalties.
Right now, Boeing has negative cash margins relative to the average prices embedded in its program accounting.
“It’s just a matter of cash margins exceeding what we have in our average booking rates,” Malave said. “We think next year we’ll start to level off there, at least on the 737 and 787, and we’ll come out on the other side of that where cash margins do start exceeding our booking rates. It’s a matter of catching up to the profitability.”
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