Boeing says 737 Max aircraft won't return until mid-2020, shares down by 5%

Chicago based plane manufacturer Boeing’s 737Max aircrafts have been upheld for safety approval by the regulators and might not resume services until mid-2020, announced the company on Tuesday.

The delay is months more than the aircraft manufacturer had previously expected and it caused Boeing’s shares to sink by more than 5 per cent at mid-afternoon, Tuesday prior to all company trading halted for Boeing’s official announcement, as per the reports. The stocks closed at 3.3 per cent at $313.37 rallying slightly in trading but finishing down close to 10 points.

Regulators had grounded the maligned Boeing 737 Max fleet in March 2019 following two deadly crashes, a Lion Air flight in Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in March, within the gap of six months each, killing all 346 people onboard. Boeing reportedly suspended production of the jetliner in December as flight-control system aboard the planes was implicated in both crashes.

FAA and its foreign counterparts re-emphasized ‘safety’

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its foreign counterparts re-emphasized ‘safety’ as the first priority and hasn’t given clear indication of when the jetliner is given approval to fly.  US Federal Aviation Authority spokesperson reiterated that it had set "no time frame" for the certification of the 737 MAX, according to reports.

He said that the agency is following a thorough deliberate process to verify that all proposed modifications to the Boeing 737 MAX meet the highest certification standards. He added that there is no set timeframe for when the work will be completed and Max 737 jetliner can resume, presumably mid-2020.

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Boeing said in a statement, “It is subject to our ongoing attempts to address known schedule risks and further developments that may arise in connection with the certification process.” The aircraft manufacturer added that Boeing accounts for “rigorous scrutiny that regulatory authorities are rightly applying at every step of their review of the 737 Max’s flight control system as well as the additional pilot training that will be needed.”

The company said that they acknowledge and regret the continued difficulties the grounding of Max 737 has presented to the customers, suppliers, regulators and flying public.

(With AP inputs)

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