Boeing says it will be several weeks before it fully resumes building passenger planes, as factory workers return following a strike that lasted nearly two months.

Striking Boeing machinists started returning to work on Wednesday after voting for a new contract with substantial wage increases. The 33,000 Seattle-area machinists voted 59 percent to accept, just two weeks after two-thirds of them voted to reject a slightly worse contract.

Boeing machinists voted Monday to end a strike that has hobbled the company for the past 53 days. The new contract includes a 38 percent wage increase over the next four years and a $12,000