Boeing is reportedly planning to restart its 737 Max production by May, global coronavirus pandemic actions permitting, according to sources Tuesday.
The plans are tentative amid large-scale, supply-chain shutdowns and U.S. policy disruptions in the coming weeks, CNBC reported.
The hope is U.S. regulators will be able to clear the shutdown 737 Max jets to return to service sometime in mid-2020 after it ceased production in January and creating "a backlog of 400 undelivered jets," per the report.
Parts for the 737 are being requested by Boeing to ship in April, according to a source.
"It'll be a very slow, methodical, systematic approach to warming the line up, and getting crews back in place," Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith told Reuters. "Priority No. 1 is getting customers' fleets back up.
"We don't want to add to inventory."
Crashes of the 737 Max, attributed to software and mechanical failures, killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia last year.
But production hit a snag amid Washington state facility closures set to begin Wednesday to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in one of the country's most infection regions.
The news also comes as Boeing seeks $60 billion in U.S. government aid in the stalled Senate stimulus legislation.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.