Boeing disclosed on March 10 that it has paused 737 MAX deliveries after discovering scratched electrical wiring caused by a machining error during production at its Renton, Washington assembly facility. The company said the issue does not affect aircraft already in airline service. Katie Ringgold, vice president of the 737 program, confirmed the delivery pause at the ISTAT Americas conference in San Diego, saying it would take "several days to resolve, not weeks." Boeing said it has notified the FAA and its airline customers. The FAA has not yet publicly commented. The wiring damage was found during routine quality checks. Boeing's engineering analysis determined the scratches do not present an immediate safety-of-flight concern for in-service aircraft, but affected jets awaiting delivery require rework before being released to customers. Delivery Impact Boeing delivered 38 MAX jets in January and 43 in February — its strongest two-month start since 2018. The March pause is expected to reduce first-quarter totals, though Boeing says its full-year target of approximately 500 737 deliveries remains intact. Production at the current rate of 42 aircraft per month is continuing; only deliveries are paused. The company had been planning to increase production to 47 per month by mid-2026, with an eventual target of 53 per month. The FAA, which capped production at 38 per month after the January 2024 Alaska Airlines door plug blowout, approved an increase to 42 per month in October 2025. Latest in a Series of Quality Findings The wiring issue is the latest in a series of manufacturing and quality control problems that have dogged Boeing since the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug blew out mid-flight on January 5, 2024. That incident — caused by four bolts that were never installed at the Renton factory — led to grounding of 171 MAX 9 aircraft, an FAA production cap, and intensified regulatory oversight. Subsequent findings included Spirit AeroSystems failing 7 of 13 product audits, improperly drilled fastener holes in aft pressure bulkheads, and a Boeing engineer testifying to the Senate that 98.7 percent of inspected 787 Dreamliners had gaps exceeding specifications. Boeing completed its $8.3 billion acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems in December 2025 to bring fuselage production back in-house. Notably, the March 2026 wiring issue occurred within Boeing's own Renton facility — not at a supplier — undermining the narrative that quality problems were primarily a supply chain issue. Boeing shares fell as much as 3.2 percent on the disclosure, the largest single-day drop since November 2025.