MAX Oppdatering - Curt Lewis

Boeing 737 MAX Comeback Set For October, FAA To Conduct Certification Flight

US Grounds Boeing 737 Max 8 And 9 Jets After Fatal Ethiopian Airlines Crash

The stage is looking set for the comeback of the grounded Boeing 737 Max jets from the hangars after being grounded for more than 5 months over safety issues from two fatal crashes.

According to reports, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may conduct a certification flight for Boeing Co.'s 737 Max in October.

Around 600 planes have been left mothballed by the grounding order.

This is a key milestone before the grounded jetliner gets back to the skies, according to insiders quoted in the Bloomberg report.

A Boeing statement said, "while the assumption reflects Boeing's best estimate at this time, the actual timing of return to service will be determined by the FAA and other global aviation regulatory authorities."

Boeing, on its part, is testing changes to the flight-control software architecture of the grounded jet.

FAA focus on flight safety

The FAA is making sure that that the revamped 737 Max systems comply with all safety requirements. There is no timeline for returning the plane to service, according to FAA.

A review by the FAA's Flight Standardization Board and new guidelines for pilot training will also involve the FAA procedures.

The FAA said it will be inviting "a cross-section of line pilots from carriers that operate the aircraft around the world" to participate in simulator testing "as part of the overall testing and validating of new procedures on the Boeing 737 MAX."

New MCAS procedures to be tested

The Boeing news also said the FAA plan for simulator sessions will involve testing of the new procedures of Boeing's updated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control software.

The original version was under fire for being an alleged causative factor in the two fatal MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that pushed the jets' nose down.

Since a computer glitch was discovered, pilots will get to test separate procedures on handling un-commanded nose-down movements outside of MCAS.

Dennis Tajer, the spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association union said: "anything that gets the average line pilot in to test that system - not the top test pilot at Boeing but an average 737 pilot - that's realistic analysis and we're encouraged to hear that."

Boeing's new production plan

Meanwhile, Boeing has unveiled an aggressive production plan for the 737 Max jets reflecting the assumption that "the 737 MAX return to the service plan."

Assuming that FAA clearance will come in October, Boeing aims to ramp up production numbers soon.

The new volumes seek to bypass the current 42 planes per month to the pre-crash level of 52 jets by February 2020 and 57 jets per month by next summer.

Meanwhile, the take-off signals for Max jets have lifted the Boeing stock as well. Boeing shares jumped nearly 8 percent last week.

Boeing was the only positive Dow Jones stock that withstood the pressures of panic selling last Friday in the context of the escalated of U.S.-China trade war.

Russia's Rostec unit ready for out-of-court deal with Boeing on 737 MAX order

MOSCOW, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A unit of Russian conglomerate Rostec said on Tuesday it was ready for an out-of-court settlement with Boeing over its order for 35 Boeing 737 MAX jets, a spokesman for Rostec's subsidiary Avia Capital Service told Reuters.

Boeing MAX 737 jets have been grounded worldwide and airlines are cancelling multimillion contracts following crashes in October and March that killed 346 people.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rostec said its unit had filed a lawsuit in the United States to cancel its order for the 35 MAX jets. The Financial Times, which first reported the move, said Avia Capital Service gave Boeing a cash deposit of $35 million.

A spokesman for Avia Capital Service told Reuters that delivery of the jets was first scheduled for October 2019 but was moved to March 2022. The Rostec unit had paid Boeing a deposit and was suffering losses from non-delivery, he said.

"If Boeing executives show a good will, we are ready to hold talks and find a mutually-beneficial out-of-court settlement for compensation of the losses we have suffered," he said.

He added that the jets were ordered for a number of Russian air companies, including domestic low-cost firm Pobeda, a unit of the state carrier Aeroflot.

Russia is mainly using Boeing and Airbus jets for passenger flights, with a number of domestic airlines also adding Russian-made regional Sukhoi Superjet aircraft to their fleets.

The Rostec subsidiary now wants the deposit to be returned by Boeing with interest, along with $75 million in "lost profit" and about $115 million in compensatory damages, plus "several times the amount" in punitive damages, the FT said.

Rostec declined to provide further details about the lawsuit.