Boeing To Increase 767 Production

Boeing will push production of the 767 up by 25 percent in 2017 to help fill an order for 50 planes from FedEx.

Boeing said it would lift the production rate to 2.5 a month from two a month starting in the fourth quarter of 2017. The company makes 1.5 a month currently and is due to reach two a month in the first quarter of 2016.

"We are confident the market will support a long-term future for the 767," Brad Zaback, vice president and general manager, said.

The backlog of 767 orders reaches into the mid-2020s, he said, and will result in a small increase in employees in 2017.

Boeing also is ramping up output of 737s and 787s but reducing production of its bigger 747, which has suffered from slow sales.

Some analysts have said Boeing will need to temporarily cut production of the 777 as it switches to a new version later in the decade, but Boeing has said it has no current plans to cut that rate.