Boeing to up 777, 747 production rates

Boeing has said that it will accelerate planned increases in production of two of its popular wide-body planes to accommodate heightened demand from airlines that had curbed orders in the last two years because of the economic crisis, Reuters has reported. 'Market improvement and our conservatively managed approach to production have put us in a position where we see it necessary to raise aircraft output,' Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Jim Albaugh, said in a statement. Boeing, which is boosting rates on its 777 aircraft to seven per month from five per month, will make that change in mid-2011 rather than early 2012 as originally planned. The company also plans to increase the rate of its 747 production to two airplanes per month from the current 1.5 planes. That increase will take effect in mid-2012 rather than mid-2013.