Boeing Upbeat On Plan To Hike Production

Boeing Co executives said on Tuesday they were cautiously optimistic about progress so far on a plan to restore normal production to airplane programs plagued by parts shortages and other problems.

Boeing said it had restored full production to the 747 assembly line after a monthlong shutdown and was nearing completion of a similar effort to rebalance" the supply of parts for the next-generation 737 program.

The aerospace giant shocked Wall Street last month when it announced the production problems would cost a projected $2.6 billion, sparking a sharp drop in the company's stock price and a wave of shareholder lawsuits.

Analysts said they were relieved by the initial report of progress but said Boeing had a long way to go before its commercial airplane programs could again be declared healthy, and executives agreed.

We're pretty pleased with the progress that we've made, but certainly we are apprehensive about how we hold that progress," Boeing President Harry Stonecipher said in a conference call with reporters. Until we get into about mid-next year, we're not going to be sure that we've really cured all these problems."

Boeing stock was up $2.19 at $51.81 in consolidated afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, still well below its peak of slightly more than $60 in July, just before the company completed its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp.

They're out of the emergency room, but they're still in intensive care," said analyst Nick Heymann of Prudential Securities. The patient's hardly ready to get out of the hospital."

After delivering 241 of its flagship 7-series of planes in the first nine months of the year, Boeing delivered only 17 in October and expects to deliver 25 in November.

But Boeing plans to deliver 52 jets in December to achieve a target of 335 planes for 1997, commercial airplane group President Ron Woodard said.