Boeing delivered 55 aircraft to customers last month, putting it on track for its best year since 2018 as its production stabilizes and its executives eye increased output rates of its 737 Max cash cow airplanes.

Forty of the deliveries were 737 Maxes, Boeing said Tuesday, with customers including European budget carrier Ryanair, which took 10, as well as Southwest Airlines, United AirlinesChina Southern and leasing firm AerCap.

In the first nine months of 2025, Boeing has delivered 440 airplanes, compared with 568 in the same period of 2018, before two deadly crashes of 737 Maxes within five months of each other upended the company.

Rival Airbus has reported 507 deliveries to customers so far this year.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg last month said the manufacturer expects the 737 Max production rate to reach 42 a month by the end of the year, a step-up from the 38 a month cap set by the Federal Aviation Administration after a near-catastrophic blowout of a door plug on a flight in January 2024.

“I think we’re pretty aligned,” Ortberg said regarding the approval process with the FAA at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in September. “We’ve got to get this final metric stabilized. And then we’re certainly still planning to be producing at 42 a month by the end of the year.”

Boeing on Tuesday also reported net orders of 48 aircraft in September, or 96 gross sales before accounting for adjustments, including 64 787 Dreamliners, with 50 for Turkish Airlines, and 30 737s for Norwegian Airlines.