Boeing is restarting production of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November.
The company said on Tuesday that construction of the plane had begun at its plant in Renton, Washington, after implementing a plan to identify and fix potential problems.
Boeing shares rose 5% in early morning trading.
Production and delivery of the Max jets and another airliner, the 787 Dreamliner, have been halted several times in recent years to fix production defects.
“Our team has worked diligently to restart factories in the Pacific Northwest. We have now restarted production of the 737 in our Renton factory, with our Everett (Washington) plant scheduled to follow in the coming days,” the company said in a statement.
Separately, the company said it took orders for 49 planes in November but lost an order with UK carrier TUI for 14 Max jets.
Since a gene called a door plug disabled the Max used by Alaska Airlines in January, the Federal Aviation Administration has ended Boeing’s production of 38 Max jets per month. Boeing hopes to convince regulators that it has addressed health and safety issues and could increase that number to 56 planes a month.
Boeing has been losing money since 2019, after two Max jets crashed, killing 346 people. It needs the money it gets from delivering new planes to start digging out of a deep financial hole.
New CEO Kelly Ortberg announced plans to lay off about 17,000 workers and sell new stock to raise funds and avoid the company’s debt.