Boeing delivers fewest planes since 2020, warns factory restart after strike will take weeks

Boeing‘s more than 32,000 machinists who were on strike are required to return to their factories no later than Tuesday, but getting factories humming again will take weeks, the manufacturer said.

Boeing machinists approved a new contract last week that included 38% pay raises over four years and other improvements, ending a more than seven-week strike that halted output of most of Boeing’s aircraft production. They first walked off the job on Sept. 13, turning down a proposal with 25% raises.

The company said Tuesday that it handed over 14 jetliners in October, the fewest since November 2020, during the depths of the pandemic and the tail end of the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max in the wake of two fatal crashes. Nine of the deliveries last month were 737 Maxes. A spokesman said workers unaffected by the strike performed the delivery procedures.

Boeing’s troubles have put it further behind Airbus this year. The U.S. manufacturer handed over 305 airplanes so far this year compared with its European rival’s 559 aircraft.

As the workers return, Boeing has to assess potential hazards, restate machinist duties and safety requirements, and ensure that all training qualifications are current, a spokesman said.

“It’s much harder to turn this on than it is to turn it off,” CEO Kelly Ortberg said during the company’s quarterly call last month. “So it’s absolutely critical that we do this right.”

The company is resuming production in Washington state and Oregon for the 737 Max, 767 and 777 programs, as well as military versions of its aircraft. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner production continued during the strike because those planes are made in a nonunion factory in South Carolina.

Despite the strike pause, Boeing continued to sell dozens of aircraft in October, with 63 gross orders, two shy of September’s total. Forty of them are 737 Max 8s for the Avia Solutions Group. It also handed over 10 787 Dreamliners to LATAM Airlines.