Boeing ramps factory hiring
Boeing is hiring roughly 100–140 factory workers per week, its fastest pace since 2024, to replace retirees and staff up for higher production rates and new models. The increased hiring cadence was described as intended to boost output and meet production targets. (reuters.com)
Boeing is now hiring about 100 to 140 factory workers a week as it rebuilds its production workforce in Washington and Oregon. (reuters.com) Jon Holden, who leads the International Association of Machinists District 751, said the pace is Boeing’s fastest factory hiring since 2024. He said the company is replacing retirees and adding staff for higher output and new airplane programs. (reuters.com) The push comes after Boeing restarted production across the 737, 767 and 777/777X lines following the 2024 machinists’ strike and a new labor agreement. Boeing said in January 2025 that those programs had resumed after the work stoppage. (boeing.com) Boeing is trying to raise output after two years of safety reviews, labor disruption and delivery delays. The Federal Aviation Administration halted any expansion of 737 MAX production on January 24, 2024, after the Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout, and kept Boeing under tighter oversight. (faa.gov) By October 2025, Boeing said it had stabilized 737 production at 38 jets a month and had reached an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to move to 42 a month. Boeing’s 2024 annual report also said the 787 program reached five planes a month at the end of 2024, with a plan to rise to seven in 2025. (boeing.com 1) (boeing.com 2) The hiring wave also lines up with Boeing’s near-term delivery schedule. Boeing said this week it delivered 143 commercial airplanes in the first quarter of 2026, including 114 737s, 15 787s and eight 777s. (boeing.com) New staffing is also tied to aircraft still in development. Boeing said in February 2026 that it now anticipates the first 777-9 delivery in 2027, after saying in 2025 that it expected the first delivery in 2026. (boeing.com 1) (boeing.com 2) For Boeing, the immediate job is simpler than the long recovery plan: hire enough mechanics, electricians and assemblers to keep the lines moving while older workers retire. The company’s weekly hiring rate shows how much labor it needs just to sustain the production targets it has already laid out. (reuters.com)
