Boeing has confirmed it will miss its target of delivering about 500 737 MAX aircraft in 2026, because wing production cannot keep pace. The company delivered 367 737s in the first nine months of 2026, leaving 133 deliveries needed in the fourth quarter to reach the target, while the third-quarter average was just above 41 per month, below the roughly 44 per month required in the final quarter. Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said on the company's earnings call that wing production remains the main constraint on 737 MAX output, noting that all 737 MAX wings are built at Renton and are among the first major parts assembled, so any slowdown there limits the whole production plan.
Boeing is holding at a rate of 47 737s per month until that rate is shown to be sustainable, after some flow improvements did not deliver the expected savings and additional capacity was added where improvements fell short. The plan to stabilise at 47 per month, originally expected before summer 2026, is now expected in early 2027, and the move to 52 per month has slipped from the first half of 2027 to the second half, with a longer-term ambition of 63 per month. Further growth depends heavily on Federal Aviation Administration production certification for a new North Line at Everett, Washington, which opened in July and is initially set to add five aircraft per month beyond Renton's 47, with the first MAX 10 rolling out on October 26. Despite the delay, deliveries are still ahead of last year: third-quarter deliveries were 124, compared with 121 a year earlier, and nine-month deliveries rose more than 10 percent, from 330 in 2025 to 367 in 2026, while final assembly rework has fallen 40 percent since early 2025.