In the first five months of 2025, Boeing (BA-0.01%) is bouncing back from a truly miserable 2024 that included the resignation of CEO David Calhoun and a $11.8 billion loss.
On Tuesday, new CEO Kelly Ortberg announced that as of May 2025, production of its 737 Max will stabilize at 38 airplanes a month. Production of the company’s bestselling airplane had been fluctuating between the teens and low thirties per month due to safety issues. It hopes to up that number to 48 airplanes a month in the next year.
Last year, the FAA capped production at 38 planes per month after an emergency door blew open on an Alaska Airlines (ALK+0.78%) flight because it wasn’t bolted correctly. The reasons why remain a mystery. That incident, after two fatal 737 crashes in 2018 and 2019, led to accusations that Boeing had spent decades focusing on financial efficiency at the expense of safety.
The Alaska incident, in January 2024, was only the beginning of an annus horribilis that included dangerous rudder components, a strike, delivery delays, a satellite explosion, and problems shuttling astronauts to the International Space Station on a Boeing Starliner.
With that kind of reputation, safety had to be top of mind in 2025. Boeing’s chief aerospace officer, Don Ruhmann, released his 2025 report on Tuesday, citing a series of improvements. It revealed that internal whistleblower reports for product safety — confidential and anonymous — were up 220%. There was increased training for 160,000 employees in safety and quality training; Boeing employs 170,000 people globally. It broadened the use of safety data analytics, using AI.
In words that every air traveller needed to hear in 2025, Ruhmann wrote that “safety is the foundation of everything we do, and our teammates take that personally — knowing every decision, every detail matters and must be done with transparency and accountability. Safety is about ensuring every person who flies on, uses, operates, designs, builds or services Boeing products gets to their destination safely.”
Tuesday’s news follows a series of other badly-needed good news stories for Boeing in recent months. Earlier in May, British Airways (IAG-0.36%)’ parent company purchased $13 billion worth of Boeing planes. In April, it reported a lower-than-expected first-quarter loss. And in March, it secured a federal defence contract to build F-47 fighter jets in a deal estimated to be worth $20 billion.
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