Chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney said the company is nearing a decision on whether to increase the monthly 737 production rate beyond the current 31.5, noting that there has been an “uptick in demand†for the narrow body. Boeing last month said it would “accelerate planned rate increases†on both the 777 and 747-8 in response to increasing demand.
The 787 has begun a series of extremeweather tests in a special hangar at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida which allows the aircraft to experience heat as high as 46 degrees Celsius and as low as minus 43 degrees Celsius.