Boeing Ups Production Of 737 Jet Company To Make 17 A Month By Third Quarter Of Next Year

The Boeing Co., citing increasing market demand, on Thursday announced another production-rate increase for its best-selling 737 twinjet.

The planes will be produced at a rate of 17 airplanes per month by the third quarter of 1997, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group said in a news release. That’s six months earlier than the previous stepped-up schedule announced in June.

Boeing currently makes 8.5 737s per month. That will increase to 10 airplanes per month by January, and 12 per month by the second quarter of 1997.

Boeing now produces 22.5 planes per month of all jetliner models. That number is scheduled to increase to 26.5 planes per month by January, 29 by the second quarter of 1997 and 36 by the third quarter next year.

Boeing has said it expected to add 13,200 jobs in 1996.

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group spokeswoman Barbara Murphy said the increased production rate for the 737 isn’t expected to boost this year’s job figure. “Any additional changes would be forthcoming in 1997,” she said.

Murphy couldn’t say whether 737 production workers would face mandatory overtime to meet the new production schedule.

In the first nine months of this year, Boeing has received orders for 435 of its commercial planes, including 249 737s. That compares with a total of 346 aircraft ordered at this time last year, Murphy said.

The 737 model is the best-selling jetliner in history. Boeing has sold 3,423 of them since their debut in 1965.