BOEING Co. said it will ensure its factories are ready to absorb a higher rate of aircraft output before lifting the tempo again next year, underscoring the planemaker’s cautious approach after years of production setbacks.

The company recently won approval from US regulators to increase the monthly rate of its 737 model to 42 units a month from 38. Boeing’s focus will now be on “stabilizing” the rate before moving higher still, said Stephanie Pope, the executive in charge of the planemaker’s commercial operations.

“Getting it right at pace is better than going fast,” Pope told journalists in Dubai on the eve of the biennial air show. The company is closely monitoring half a dozen performance indicators to ensure they remain within their required bands, and for now they are trending in the right direction, she said.

Boeing is emerging from years of crisis that forced the company to curtail output of its 737 aircraft. The manufacturer is still working to gain certification approval of the smallest and the largest variant of the 737, which Pope said she expects to happen next year.

Production increases particularly on narrowbody aircraft are important for Boeing and rival Airbus SE because they are the most widely flown type of plane and generate the bulk of the manufacturers’ cash. Airbus has experienced delays because of a lack of parts including engines, though the European company still plans to hand over about 820 units to customers this year.

In recent years, Boeing was forced to pare back output of its 737 on several occasions from a peak of more than 50 a month following two fatal crashes in rapid succession involving the model, as well as the coronavirus pandemic that heavily weighed on commercial flying.

Boeing aims to build 8 of its larger 787 Dreamliner per month by year-end, the company said last month. Boeing then aims to increase to a 10-per-month clip as soon as 2026. Pope said the same approach to stabilizing the rate applies to that model.

The US planemaker was able to build up a buffer in engines when it reduced its 737 output last year, Pope said, following a near catastrophic accident at the start of 2024. That, in turn, has helped the company avoid the sort of acute engine shortages that has bedeviled its European competitor.

One recent setback has been another delay on Boeing’s 777-X widebody aircraft, which will now enter commercial service in 2027, about seven years behind its initial schedule.

Boeing took a $4.9 billion charge tied to that revision, which Pope said takes into account costs including late payments to customers, a reset in the production plan and other fixed costs.

While customers are disappointed in the latest setback on Boeing’s biggest airliner, so far they’re sticking with their orders, Pope said. Among the biggest buyers of the 777-X is Dubai-based Emirates, which has built its global fleet around widebody and jumbo aircraft like the current 777 and the Airbus A380.

The company is widely expected to announce more orders at the Dubai expo kicking off this week, with Airbus hoping to win a deal for its A350-1000 model, Bloomberg News reported last week. –BLOOMBERG