Boeing’s 2014 closing in on 1,000 orders for Wichita’s most important plane

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The Boeing Co. currently builds 42 737s a month, which means plenty of work at Spirit AeroSystems Inc. in Wichita. That rate was already scheduled to go to 47 a month in 2017, and Boeing says it's boosting it again to 52 in 2018.

Daniel McCoy

Reporter- Wichita Business Journal

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The latest update to the Boeing Co.'s orders and deliveries numbers shows the aerospace manufacturer is closing in on 1,000 net orders from its single-aisle 737 line for 2014.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) now has 982 net orders for 737 models after factoring in 80 cancellations to its gross orders for the year.

That's good news for Wichita, where the 737 is the Air Capital's most important plane.

Across all models, Boeing now has a total of 1,274 net orders in 2014. Wichita's largest employer, Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (NYSE: SPR) has work on all Boeing commercial aircraft.

Rival Airbus, meanwhile, has gained some ground on Boeing through the end of November as it now reports 1,031 net aircraft orders through the end of last month.

Daniel McCoy covers aviation, manufacturing and automotive.