Boeing Rehiring Retirees to Speed 737 Delivery

Boeing Co. is offering some of its retired workers a $7,500 bonus to help the manufacturer with its troubled next-generation 737 program, officials said. Company spokesman Peter Conte said about 100 retired mechanics, including some who took advantage of an early-retirement program in 1995, have been offered temporary positions through the end of April. The mechanics will be put to work finishing next-generation 737-700s that have been stacking up outside the company’s suburban Seattle factory awaiting missing parts and other last-minute adjustments. “We needed some people who could get up to speed very quickly,” Conte said. Boeing is scheduled to deliver seven next-generation 737s a month until April, when the rate jumps to 14.