March 28, 2024
Boeing 737 Max probably won’t be ungrounded until mid-2020, company says
CHICAGO - In another setback in its effort to get its best-selling jet back in the air, Boeing on Tuesday said it does not expect U.S. regulators to begin ungrounding the 737 Max until mid-2020.

Company officials, however, said they remain confident the plane will fly again.

“We acknowledge and regret the continued difficulties that the grounding of the 737 Max has presented to our customers, our regulators, our suppliers, and the flying public,” the company said in a statement. “We will provide additional information about our efforts to safely return the 737 Max to service in connection with our quarterly financial disclosures next week.”

Boeing is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings Jan. 29. Trading of the company’s stock was briefly halted Tuesday for the company’s announcement.

The company declined to be more specific about when it expected the Federal Aviation Administration to recertify the jets. Boeing had originally expected the Max to be cleared by U.S. regulators in December.

However, it said Tuesday, the new timeline, “accounts for the rigorous scrutiny that regulatory authorities are rightly applying at every step of their review of the 737 MAX’s flight control system and the Joint Operations Evaluation Board process which determines pilot training requirements.”

An FAA spokesman reiterated that the agency has no set timeline for certifying the jets.

“The agency is following a thorough, deliberate process to verify that all proposed modifications to the Boeing 737 Max meet the highest certification standards,” spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. “We continue to work with other safety regulators to review Boeing’s work as the company conducts the required safety assessments and addresses all issues that arise during testing. We have set no time frame for when the work will be completed.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes amid reports that regulators recently found a new software problem with the plane. The Associated Press reported that regulators discovered software designed to verify that monitors tracking key systems on the plane are working properly did not start correctly.

The Max has been grounded since last March, following the fatal crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight. The March 10 calamity followed the October 2018 crash of a Lion Air flight off the coast of Indonesia. The two crashes killed a total of 346 people.

The extended grounding has taken a severe financial toll on Boeing, which halted production of the Max this month. CNBC reported that Boeing is in talks with banks to secure a loan of $10 billion or more.

The grounding also has impacted its suppliers.

Spirit AeroSystems, one of the largest parts suppliers for the 737 Max, announced Jan. 10, that it had sent layoff notices to roughly 2,000 employees at its Wichita plant.

Airlines have also had to cancel thousands of flights and remake their schedules. American, Southwest and United, previously announced they had removed the 737 Max from their schedules through early June. Tuesday’s announcement will likely force them to again change their schedules. (Source: The Washington Post)
Story Date: January 22, 2020
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