What 737 MAX variants will the Boeing North Line in Everett build?

The North Line will be capable of building all 737 MAX variants and will initially focus on the 737-8, 737-9, and 737-10.

Q: Is Boeing building 737 MAX planes at the Everett factory?
A: Yes, for the first time in the company’s history. Boeing’s North Line — a new fourth 737 MAX assembly line — is targeting a midsummer 2026 launch at the Everett factory. The line will produce 737-8, 737-9, and 737-10 variants, with a workforce drawn from newly hired Everett employees and experienced teammates transferred from Renton and Moses Lake.

Boeing’s North Line in Everett: The Complete Worker’s Guide to the New 737 MAX Assembly Line

For more than five decades, if you wanted to build a Boeing narrowbody aircraft, you went to Renton. That changes this summer. The North Line — Boeing’s fourth 737 MAX assembly line and the first ever to produce a narrowbody outside Renton — is taking shape inside the largest building by volume in the world, at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington.

For workers, this is what you need to know: what the line is, how hiring works, what training looks like, and what working on the North Line actually means for a career at Boeing in Everett.

What the North Line Is and Why It Exists

Boeing’s 737 MAX program is its most commercially important aircraft family. The company currently builds the MAX at three lines at its Renton, Washington facility, targeting a production rate above 47 aircraft per month. The North Line in Everett adds a fourth line with a longer-term goal of reaching 63 aircraft per month — a target Boeing program manager Katie Ringgold acknowledged will “take a number of years” to achieve at full ramp.

The strategic logic for placing the fourth line in Everett is clear: the factory is already the largest industrial building in the world, home to Boeing’s 747, 767, 777, and 777X programs. Adding 737 production to that footprint uses existing infrastructure, maintains a large skilled workforce, and positions Everett as central to Boeing’s recovery strategy after several years of production challenges.

Construction and tooling of the North Line are complete. A 737 Wing Transport Tool — a custom logistics system for ferrying partially completed wings between the Renton facility and Everett for final assembly — is in place. The line is ready. The current work is people.

How Boeing Is Staffing the North Line

The North Line workforce will come from two sources: newly hired Everett-based employees, and experienced teammates transferring from Renton, Everett’s existing widebody programs, and Moses Lake (where Boeing operates a paint and storage facility).

The transfer model makes sense for a production launch: the North Line needs experienced hands who understand 737 MAX build processes deeply enough to train the new hires and set the quality culture for the line from its first day. As the line ramps and matures, the workforce will increasingly be built around Everett-based employees who develop their careers on the 737 for the first time in this city.

Boeing is actively hiring and training mechanics and quality positions for the North Line. The hiring process runs through Boeing’s standard application pipeline at boeing.com/careers; positions are listed under the Everett, WA location filter.

Training: What the Path to the North Line Looks Like

New employees hired specifically for the North Line undergo a structured training pathway designed to ensure they’re ready before they touch the aircraft. The process:

12 weeks of foundational training. New hires complete Boeing’s foundational manufacturing training program, building the core knowledge base required for precision aircraft assembly work.

Structured on-the-job training (SOJT) at Renton. Following foundational training, new North Line employees spend time at the Renton 737 MAX production facility, pairing with experienced mentors in the actual build environment. This is where classroom knowledge meets production reality.

Transition to Everett. Once training at Renton is complete, employees join the North Line in Everett.

Jaden Myers, hired as a Flow Day 1 dorsal fin installer, was among the first employees to complete this process. His assessment of the experience was direct: “Opening a new production line is something special — we have to do it right.” Alondra Ponce, an electrician on the North Line, described the training environment as setting a strong foundation from day one.

What the Work Looks Like

The North Line builds the 737 MAX using the same production process established at Renton, adapted for the Everett facility. The build sequence follows the same station-based flow used across Boeing’s commercial programs: major sections are assembled, systems are installed, and the aircraft progresses through stations until it’s ready for delivery to customers.

The 737 Wing Transport Tool is the distinctive element in Everett’s process — wings are assembled at one facility and transported to Everett for final integration, a logistics step that Renton’s integrated campus doesn’t require. That additional complexity is something North Line workers will need to understand as part of their workflow.

FAA oversight of the line is expected to be intensive during the launch phase. Boeing’s consent decree with the FAA, following the production quality challenges of recent years, means the North Line will operate under heightened scrutiny. That’s not necessarily a negative for workers — it reflects a serious commitment to getting the quality culture right from the start, which is better for the program’s long-term health.

Career Trajectory and the Everett Boeing Economy

For workers building their careers in Everett, the North Line represents a meaningful expansion of opportunity. Previously, building narrowbody aircraft meant a career in Renton. Now, Everett workers can access both widebody programs (767, 777, 777X) and the 737 MAX — the world’s highest-production-rate commercial aircraft — without leaving their home city.

The Everett Boeing campus employs tens of thousands of workers across its programs. The 777X, which is targeting its first production flight from Paine Field this spring before FAA certification, represents another major program in active development at the same facility. For machinists, electricians, quality inspectors, and manufacturing engineers, Everett’s Boeing footprint is becoming more diversified, not less.

Frequently Asked Questions About Boeing’s North Line

Q: When will the North Line begin producing 737 MAX aircraft in Everett?
A: Boeing is targeting midsummer 2026 for the North Line’s launch. The line will not instantly reach production targets — it will ramp gradually as the workforce builds experience and the FAA validates processes under its heightened oversight framework.

Q: Is Boeing hiring for the North Line right now?
A: Yes. Boeing is actively hiring mechanics and quality positions for the North Line at Everett. Positions are listed at boeing.com/careers filtered by Everett, WA location.

Q: What 737 MAX variants will the North Line build?
A: The North Line will be capable of building all 737 MAX variants — the -8, -9, and -10 — though it will initially focus on those three variants before potentially expanding to others in the MAX family.

Q: How long is the training process for new North Line employees?
A: New hires complete approximately 12 weeks of foundational training, followed by structured on-the-job training (SOJT) at the Renton facility paired with experienced mentors, then transition to Everett for the North Line.

Q: Will the North Line be represented by the IAM (International Association of Machinists)?
A: Boeing’s Puget Sound production employees, including those at the Everett factory, work under existing IAM representation agreements. The North Line is part of the same Boeing Everett facility that is already covered by those agreements.

Q: What is Boeing’s production rate target for the 737 MAX?
A: Boeing is targeting production above 47 aircraft per month across all its 737 MAX lines in the near term, with a longer-term goal of reaching 63 aircraft per month. The North Line adds capacity toward those targets but won’t instantly lift overall output — it needs time to staff, train, and stabilize.