Boeing Earmarks December For 737 MAX Return
United States aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, says it may resume the delivery of its 737 MAX to customers by December.
The company said it had been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory authorities towards certification and safe return of the aircraft to commercial service.
The US FAA had grounded the 737 MAX jets mid-March following two deadly crashes of the new generation aircraft within five months.
In a statement on its website, Boeing stated that with the rigorous scrutiny being applied, it was confident the MAX would be one of the safest airplanes ever to fly.
The statement read in part, “While the FAA and other regulatory authorities will determine the timing of certification and return to commercial service, Boeing continues to target the FAA certification of the MAX flight control software updates during this quarter.
“Based on this schedule, it is possible that the resumption of MAX deliveries to airline customers could begin in December, after certification, when the FAA issues an airworthiness directive rescinding the grounding order.
“In parallel, we are working towards final validation of the updated training requirements, which must occur before the MAX returns to commercial service, and which we now expect to begin in January.”
The company said there were five key milestones it must complete with the FAA before the 737 MAX’s return to service.
These, according to the company, are the FAA eCab Simulator Certification Session; the FAA Line Pilots Crew Workload Evaluation, and FAA Certification Flight Test.
Others are Boeing’s final submittal to the FAA after completion of the FAA certification flight and Joint Operational Evaluation Board Simulator Training Evaluation, where a multi-regulatory body conducts a multi-day simulator session with global regulatory pilots to validate training requirements.
Boeing said in conjunction with the FAA, it had successfully concluded the first of the milestones in the past week and had started working towards the FAA line pilots evaluation and the FAA certification flight test.
