Boeing’s big hiring push
Boeing is hiring roughly 100–140 factory workers a week to replace retirees and staff up for higher production rates. Reports say this is the company’s fastest hiring pace since 2024 and that the push emphasises training and apprenticeship programs to sustain throughput. (reuters.com) (airdatanews.com)
Boeing is now hiring about 100 to 140 factory workers a week in the Pacific Northwest as it tries to raise jet output and replace retirees. (reuters.com) (msn.com) The pace is Boeing’s fastest since 2024, according to Jon Holden of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents Boeing’s factory workers in the region. Boeing’s unionized factory workforce in the Pacific Northwest now tops 34,000 and is still growing, Holden said. (reuters.com) (newsmax.com) Boeing said it is seeing “strong interest” as it hires in Puget Sound and across the company to support higher production rates. Reuters reported the new recruits are being added both to backfill retirements and to staff new airplane programs and assembly work. (reuters.com) (money.usnews.com) The hiring push comes after Boeing spent 2024 and 2025 under heavy pressure to stabilize its factories after the January 2024 Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 door-plug blowout. The Federal Aviation Administration capped 737 Max production at 38 a month in early 2024, then lifted that limit in October 2025 and allowed Boeing to move to 42 a month. (cnbc.com) (usatoday.com) Boeing is also trying to push beyond that. Air Data News, citing Reuters, reported the company has been working toward 47 Boeing 737 Max jets a month in 2026 and is preparing a new 737 assembly line in Everett, Washington, alongside its Renton production. (airdatanews.com 1) (airdatanews.com 2) Demand is not the immediate problem. Boeing said in its fourth-quarter 2025 results that Commercial Airplanes ended the year with a backlog of more than 6,100 aircraft valued at $567 billion, while total company backlog reached a record $682 billion. (boeing.com) (sec.gov) The pressure point is labor on the shop floor. Holden’s role at the union now focuses on training and apprenticeships, and Reuters reported Boeing’s staffing plan is putting new weight on those programs as older workers retire and production targets rise. (reuters.com) (ajot.com) That makes this hiring wave less about a one-month surge than about rebuilding the factory bench. Boeing needs enough mechanics, assemblers and trainees in place before higher monthly output can turn into more delivered airplanes. (reuters.com) (boeing.com)
