FAA Pauses 737 Production Expansion, Creates Return to Service Path for Max 9s

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) January 24 halted Boeing’s planned expansion on production of its 737 Max aircraft, while also clearing a path for the manufacturer’s Max 9 jets to return to service over the next few days.

According to CNBC, the FAA also said on January 24 that it had approved the inspection instructions for Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes.

“Let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing,” said FAA administrator Mike Whitaker in a statement. “We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”

Boeing’s stock was down more than 2% in premarket trading January 25.

“We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing,” Boeing said in a statement.

The FAA grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after a fuselage panel blew out at 16,000 feet on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 January 5, forcing Alaska Airlines and United Airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

Alaska Airlines said that it plans to resume 737 Max 9 flights on January 26 “with more planes added every day as inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy.” Meanwhile, United said that it plans to return Max 9 planes to service on January 28, based on a message sent to company employees by COO Toby Enqvist.

“In the days ahead, our teams will continue to proceed in a way that is thorough and puts safety and compliance first,” Enqvist said in an internal message.

The ongoing inspections into Boeing have already had an impact on the company’s planned production of its 737 Max 10 jets, a new, larger and more expensive version of the 737 Max that has not yet been certified by the FAA. Though Boeing is at least five years away from being able to deliver Max 10s to United Airlines, the organization is no longer confident it will be able to receive those planes, said United CEO Scott Kirby.

“I think the Max 9 grounding is probably the straw that broke the camel’s back for us,” Kirby said. “We’re going to build a plan that doesn’t have the Max 10 in it.”

According to CNN, United currently has firm orders for 277 Max 10 jets as well as options to buy an additional 200 aircraft from Boeing.

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• Source: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/38933-faa-pauses-737-max-production-expansion-creates-return-to-service-path-for-max-9s