What Boeing's new 737 production line means for its Everett factory
The Boeing Co.’s (NYSE: BA) announcement Monday that it will open a new production line for the 737 Max in Everett — dubbed the North Line — sets the stage for the next decade of narrow-body production by the jet maker.
With no new jet program on the horizon, the decision secures additional work at the facility through 2035, said Scott Hamilton, aerospace analyst at Leeham Co. But it won’t entirely fill the holes left by the consolidation of final assembly work on the 787 Dreamliner to South Carolina in early 2021 and the discontinuation of the 747, the last of which will be delivered to customer Atlas Air this week.
Rework on the Dreamliner currently underway in Everett following a delivery stoppage over quality control problems will similarly last only a couple of years, Hamilton said.
Jon Holden, president of Boeing machinists' union IAM District 751, told the Business Journal that while the new assembly work is "positive," "it’s not changing our focus that the future of the Puget Sound does depend on Boeing designing and developing new aircraft. The 737 Max will be replaced and we want to build the next single-aisle.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/01/31/boeing-737-production-offsets-widebody-exits.html