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Boeing is building new 737 Max planes for first time since strike
Boeing is resuming production of its bestselling plane, the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November.
The company said Tuesday that plane-building resumed at its plant in Renton, Washington, after going through a process of identifying and fixing potential problems.
Boeing shares rose 5% in late-morning trading.
Production and deliveries of Max jets and another airline plane, the 787 Dreamliner, have been stopped several times in recent years to fix manufacturing flaws.
“Our team has worked methodically to restart factory operations in the Pacific Northwest. We have now resumed 737 production in our Renton factory, with our Everett (Washington) programs on plan to follow in the days ahead,” the company said in a statement.
Separately, the company said it took orders for 49 planes in November but lost an order by U.K. carrier TUI for 14 Max jets.
Ever since a panel called a door plug blew off a Max operated by Alaska Airlines in January, the Federal Aviation Administration has capped Boeing’s production of Max jets to 38 per month. Boeing hopes to convince regulators that it has corrected quality and safety issues and can raise that number to 56 planes per month.
Boeing has been losing money since 2019, after two Max jets crashed, killing 346 people. It needs the cash it earns from delivering new planes to begin digging out of a deep financial hole.
New CEO Kelly Ortberg has announced plans to lay off about 17,000 workers and sell new stock to raise cash and prevent the company’s credit rating from sliding into junk status.
GM to retreat stops funding its Cruise autonomous vehicle unit
DETROIT | General Motors said Tuesday it will retreat from the robotaxi business and stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.
Instead the Detroit automaker will focus on development of partially automated driver-assist systems like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel.
GM said it would get out of robotaxis “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”
The company said it will combine Cruise’s technical team with its own to work on advanced systems to assist drivers.
GM bought Cruise automation i n 2016 for at least $1 billion with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis.
Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90% of the company from investors.
GM even announced plans for Cruise to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025, but it scaled back spending on the company after one of its autonomous Chevrolet Bolts dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who was hit by another vehicle in 2023.
The California Public Utilities Commission alleged Cruise then covered up details of the crash for more than two weeks.
The incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce.
Former chairman of China Everbright Group jailed
BEIJING | A former chairman of the state-owned bank China Everbright Group was jailed 12 years for embezzlement and bribery, official broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday.
Tang Shuangning, who had also held senior posts at the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was arrested in January, part of a wider wave of prosecutions of senior officials accused of financial crimes.
A court in the city of Tangshan, about 100 miles east of Beijing, found him guilty of taking advantage of his position at the state-owned bank in “seeking convenience for others” in jobs and loans, in exchange for illegal payments. The court said he had accepted illegal property with a total value of more than $1.5 million.
— From AP reportsTang, who retired in 2017, was expelled from the ruling Communist Party in January. His successor at Everbright, Li Xiaopeng, was also suspected of graft, expelled from the party and removed from public office.
They are among many officials caught up in President Xi Jinping’s decade-long anti-corruption campaign, which critics say is also designed to remove his political rivals.
Other former officials caught up in the crackdown include Liu Liange, a former chairman of the Bank of China; former Chinese central bank senior official Sun Guofeng; former president of state-owned China CITIC Bank Sun Deshun; and Zhang Hongli, a former senior executive of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
—From AP reports
