Boeing boosts 767 production rate to 3 units per month

Boeing is close to rolling out of its Everett factory the first 767 to be produced at the increased rate of three per month. The aircraft is the 1,201st 767 and will be a 767-300F for FedEx Express.

Wing spars for this frame were loaded into the assembly line in July. After final assembly of the aircraft has been completed, it will be painted and be put through the usual tests before delivery, which typically occurs a week or two after test flights begin.

Here is a photo of the aircraft in the factory posted by Boeing on social media:

Our first 767 Freighter that’ll be delivered at the increased three per month rate is moving through final assembly. That’s where our team adds the finishing touches before it’s ready to fly! pic.twitter.com/gXw2bRfkSS

— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) November 19, 2019

According to Boeing, it delivered the final passenger 767 to Kazakhstan-based Air Astana in 2014. Production then shifted to a smaller space, shared with the 747-8 program, to make extra room for the 787. The thinking was that orders for the 767 would slow down, but demand for the type has remained strong. In April 2018, Boeing even announced that it would be upping the production rate of the 767 program from two-and-a-half to three airplanes a month from 2020.

Demand for the production 767F has principally come from express integrators FedEx and UPS. FedEx recently exercised options to buy six more 767-300Fs and now has forty-nine 767Fs on firm order. UPS ordered another four 767-300Fs in February 2018 and currently has an order backlog of nine.

Apart from the 767F, Boeing is also building the KC-46, a military transport and aerial refueling variant of the 767.

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