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WASHINGTON: The US Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it will allow Boeing to produce more 737 Max airplanes by increasing the monthly limit that it imposed after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines jet that the company built.
Boeing can now produce 42 Max jets per month, up from 38, after safety inspectors conducted extensive reviews of the aerospace company’s manufacturing lines to ensure an increase in production can be done safely, the FAA said.
The agency had set a cap on production shortly after the terrifying January 2024 incident involving the Alaska Airlines 737 Max jet. In practice, though, the production rate fell well below the ceiling last year as the company contended with investigations and a machinists’ strike that idled factories for almost eight weeks. But Boeing said over the summer that it had reached the monthly cap in the second quarter and would eventually seek the FAA’s permission to start producing more of the planes.
A spokesperson for Boeing said Friday that the company followed a “disciplined process” to make sure it was ready to safely increase production, using safety guidelines and performance goals that it set with the FAA.
“We appreciate the work by our team, our suppliers and the FAA to ensure we are prepared to increase production with safety and quality at the forefront,” Boeing said in a statement.
The FAA also said Friday this won’t change the way it oversees Boeing production processes and its efforts to strengthen the company’s safety culture, adding that FAA inspectors at Boeing plants have continued to work through the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
Just last month, the FAA also restored Boeing’s ability to perform final safety inspections on 737 Max jetliners and certify them for flight. Boeing hadn’t been allowed to do that for more than six years, after two crashes of the then-new model killed 346 people. The FAA took full control over 737 Max approvals in 2019, after the second of the two crashes that were later blamed on a new software system Boeing developed for the aircraft.
Earlier this year, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg faced questions from a Senate committee about the production rate of the 737 Max, with lawmakers seeking reassurance from Ortberg that the company was prioritizing quality and safety over meeting production targets for profit.
“Just to be very clear, we won’t ramp up production if the performance isn’t indicating a stable production system,” Ortberg said at the April hearing. “We will continue to work on getting to a stable system.”
The incident involving the Alaska Airlines flight that prompted the production cap on Max jets was among a series of alleged safety violations by Boeing between September 2023 and February 2024 that led to the FAA seeking $3.1 million in fines from the company.

NEW YORK: President Donald Trump said Friday he had commuted the sentence of former US Rep. George Santos, who is serving more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft charges.
The New York Republican was sentenced in April after admitting last year to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of 11 people — including his own family members — to make donations to his campaign.
He reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey, on July 25 and is being housed in a minimum security prison camp with fewer than 50 other inmates.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump posted on his social media platform. He said he had “just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.”
“Good luck George, have a great life!” Trump said.
Andrew Mancilla, one of Santos’ lawyers, said Friday he was “very, very happy with the decision,” though he said it’s unclear at this point when Santos will be released. Spokespersons for the Bureau of Prisons didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Santos’ account on X, which has been active throughout his roughly 84 days in prison, reposted a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post Friday.
During his time behind bars, Santos has been writing regular dispatches in a local newspaper on Long Island, The South Shore Press. In his latest letter, published Oct. 13, Santos pleaded to Trump directly, citing his fealty to the president’s agenda and to the Republican Party.
“Sir, I appeal to your sense of justice and humanity — the same qualities that have inspired millions of Americans to believe in you,” he wrote. “I humbly ask that you consider the unusual pain and hardship of this environment and allow me the opportunity to return to my family, my friends, and my community.”
Santos’ commutation is Trump’s latest high-profile act of clemency for former Republican politicians since retaking the White House in January.
In late May, he pardoned former US Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who in 2014 pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.
But in granting clemency to Santos, Trump was rewarding a figure who has drawn scorn from within his own party.
After becoming the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022, Santos served less than a year after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story.
On the campaign trail, Santos had claimed he was a successful business consultant with Wall Street cred and a sizable real estate portfolio. But when his resume came under scrutiny, Santos eventually admitted he had never graduated from Baruch College — or been a standout player on the Manhattan college’s volleyball team, as he had claimed. He had never worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
He wasn’t even Jewish. Santos insisted he meant he was “Jew-ish” because his mother’s family had a Jewish background, even though he was raised Catholic.
In truth, the then-34-year-old was struggling financially and even faced eviction.
Santos was charged in 2023 with stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and lying to Congress about his wealth.
Within months, he was expelled from the US House of Representatives — with 105 Republicans joining with Democrats to make Santos just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues..
Santos pleaded guilty as he was set to stand trial.
Still, a prominent former House colleague, US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, urged the White House to commute Santos’ sentence, saying in a letter sent just days into his prison bid that the punishment was “a grave injustice” and a product of judicial overreach.
Greene was among those who cheered the announcement Friday. But US Rep. Nick LaLota, a Republican who represents part of Long Island and has been highly critical of Santos, said in a post on social media that Santos “didn’t merely lie” and his crimes “warrant more than a three-month sentence.”
“He should devote the rest of his life to demonstrating remorse and making restitution to those he wronged,” LaLota said.
In explaining his reason for granting Santos clemency, Trump said the lies Santos told about himself were no worse than misleading statements US Sen. Richard Blumenthal — a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration — had made about his military record.
Blumenthal apologized 15 years ago for implying that he served in Vietnam, when he was stateside in the Marine Reserve during the war.
“This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump wrote.
Trump himself was convicted in a New York court last year in a case involving hush money payments. He derided the case as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.