Alaska Airlines N704AL is seen grounded in a hangar at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 9, 2024.
Mathieu Lewis-rolland | Getty Images
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday halted Boeing‘s planned expansion of its 737 Max aircraft production, nevertheless it cleared a path for the manufacturer’s Max 9 to return to service in the approaching days, nearly three weeks after a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.
“Let me be clear: This would possibly not be back to business as usual for Boeing,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker in a press release Wednesday. “We won’t comply with any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we’re satisfied that the standard control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”
Boeing has been scrambling to ramp up output of its best-selling aircraft as airlines clamor for brand spanking new jets within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ll proceed to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take motion to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing,” the corporate said in a press release.
Boeing shares were down roughly 1% in after-hours trading after the FAA’s announcement.
The FAA on Wednesday also said it approved inspection instructions for the Max 9 aircraft. Airlines had been awaiting that approval to review their fleets to return those planes to service.
The FAA grounded the 737 Max 9 planes after a fuselage panel blew out as Flight 1282 climbed out of Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5. The grounding forced United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, the 2 U.S. airlines with the planes, to cancel a whole bunch of flights.
Alaska said it could resume 737 Max 9 flights on Friday “with more planes added daily as inspections are accomplished and every aircraft is deemed airworthy.”
United plans to return the planes to service starting on Sunday, in keeping with a message to employees from Chief Operating Officer Toby Enqvist.
“In the times ahead, our teams will proceed to proceed in a way that’s thorough and puts safety and compliance first,” Enqvist said in the interior message.
The CEOs of each carriers have expressed frustration with Boeing after the difficulty, essentially the most serious in a recent spate of apparent manufacturing flaws on Boeing aircraft. The aircraft on the Alaska flight was delivered late last yr.
The FAA is investigating Boeing’s production lines after the Alaska flight. Whitaker told CNBC on Tuesday that the FAA will keep “boots on the bottom” at Boeing’s factory until the agency is convinced quality assurance systems are working. He said the agency is switching to a “direct inspection” approach with Boeing.
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