MAX - Dagens - Curt Lewis

What Boeing's CEO says may be used against it in the court of law, public opinion Largely characterized as political theater, Congressional hearings currently underway still pose risks for Boeing (BA) - and its embattled CEO Dennis Mulienburg as the company tries to fend off civil litigation from passengers, customers and pilots. The aerospace giant has been under pressure from all sides since two fatal crashes of the company's flagship 737 Max jet. Amid ongoing probes of the two disasters, an investigation by the Department of Justice and growing questions about Boeing's relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), experts say Muilenberg's words to Congress could easily come back to haunt the company. "The potential liability to Boeing is crushing, and what he says are potential admissions that can be used in litigation," Arthur Rosenberg, an aviation attorney who is representing families whose relatives died in the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes, told Yahoo Finance. In two-day hearings, lawmakers seized their first opportunity to directly question Mulienburg about the two disasters. Senators on Tuesday learned that the CEO knew of a 2016 text sent from Boeing's then chief technical pilot to another Boeing pilot - before the second crash occurred - about MCAS, the computer system at the heart of global investigations into both accidents. Clash over a troubled system Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg sits in front of family members holding photographs of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims from two deadly 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people as Muilenburg waits to testify before a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on "aviation safety" and the grounded 737 MAX on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger Shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia on October 29, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10 - which prompted the FAA to ground the MAX on March 13. Since then, Muilenburg has been under pressure, while Boeing has taken a staggering financial hit of $9.2 billion connected to the worldwide grounding. Another legally sensitive issue raised at Boeing's Senate committee hearing included a recently revealed 2016 email exchange that suggested the former chief technical pilot, Mark Forkner, had inadvertently lied to regulators about MCAS' impact. Other pertinent questions included why Boeing ultimately left out the existence of MCAS from the aircraft's manual, and why the Max was equipped with fewer fail safe features than Boeing had installed on a military aircraft with an MCAS system. Also, lawmakers are pressing Boeing on its evaluation of the hazard level posed by its single angle of attack (AOA), a sensor designed to work in concert with MCAS. In an exhibit displayed during the hearing, Texas Republican Ted Cruz read through one of the written communications from Forkner. The message said that the MCAS was "running rampant in the [simulated environment]." Forkner was the FAA's main point of contact at Boeing involved in evaluating the Max aircraft for certification, which Boeing was still testing in 2016 and which was certified as airworthy in 2017. Muilenburg, however, insisted that he "didn't see the details of Forkner's exchanges until recently," he told senators. "And we're not quite sure what Mr. Porter meant by that exchange - his lawyer has suggested he was talking about a simulator." Muilenburg said that he only became aware of Forkner's text when it was produced in February in response to the federal government's request for documents. Cruz suggested that the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March may have been averted had Boeing's executives acted upon the information contained in the text or emails. "How did you not, in February, set out a nine alarm fire to say we need to figure out exactly what happened?" Sen. Cruz asked Muilenberg - who subsequently stated that he "counted on our team to make sure all the right authorities were notified." John Hamilton, Boeing's chief engineer of commercial airplanes, has acknowledged that Boeing assigned an insubstantial hazard level to the MCAS system with respect to the AOA alert that he said had not been specifically tested for reliability. And in a lawsuit, the Southwest Airlines Pilots' union argued that MCAS should have been categorized as a catastrophic failure risk, rather than a major failure risk. Alan Diehl, a former cockpit designer, NTSB investigator, and FAA Human Performance Program Scientist, agreed, telling Yahoo Finance that "obviously we've got 346 dead people. That says, no, it should have been classified as catastrophic, and the FAA should have caught this. He added: "The System Safety Analysis that Boeing did was inadequate and misleading, in my opinion."

American Airlines flight attendants stand up to Boeing CEO on 737 MAX An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight approaches for landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines' flight attendants union still has safety concerns about the Boeing 737 MAX and is demanding an active role in the relaunch of the grounded aircraft, its president told Boeing Co's chief executive in a letter seen by Reuters. "The 28,000 flight attendants working for American Airlines refuse to walk onto a plane that may not be safe and are calling for the highest possible safety standards to avoid another tragedy," Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Lori Bassani said in the letter. The letter, dated Oct. 30, followed two days of congressional hearings in Washington during which lawmakers grilled Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg about the development of the 737 MAX following two crashes that killed 346 people and led to the aircraft's worldwide grounding in March. American Airlines Group is the second largest U.S. operator of the 737 MAX, with 24 jets in its fleet at the time of the grounding and dozens more on order. Bassani told Muilenburg that the hearings show breakdowns in supervision of the 737 MAX and raise questions about the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) resources for oversight. Bassani was in Washington on Wednesday meeting with dozens of elected officials. According to the letter, she wants to make sure her group has all the information needed to assess the safety of sending her crews back to work once the aircraft receives FAA approval. Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe in an emailed statement said Muilenburg had received the letter and will be responding soon. "We are committed to providing flight attendants, pilots and our airline customers the information they need so we can re-earn their trust and that of the traveling public that counts on them," Johndroe said. Pilot and flight attendant unions are expected to play a role in airlines' efforts to win over public sentiment on the aircraft. Boeing has said it expects a 737 MAX return to service in the current quarter. American Airlines has removed the 737 MAX from its flying schedule until Jan. 16. Southwest Airlines Needs Almost Half A Year To Return 737 MAX To Service Southwest Airlines has said that it will need nearly half a year to get all its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft back in operation. The airline is currently awaiting the recertification of the aircraft from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Southwest expects five months to reintegrate its grounded MAX aircraft. Photo: Southwest Airlines The timeline for the relaunch This timeline was noted in the Q3 2019 earnings call held by Southwest executives. The plan for relaunch covers not only the reintroduction of the aircraft to a normal schedule but also new processes for staff. The airline said that it would need time to train its pilots on the aircraft as well as update its manuals after airworthiness is granted. This is a process that could take between 30 and 40 days. In terms of reintroducing the aircraft, the airline has a lot to consider. It's taking into account the undelivered MAX aircraft it has on order from Boeing as well as its current grounded fleet. Southwest Airlines said it will need between two and four months to reintroduce all these aircraft. It has 34 aircraft currently grounded and is expecting 41 more from Boeing. American, United Airlines Push Boeing Max Return to at Least December In a transcript from the Earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Michael G. Van de Ven said; "...that gives us 75 aircraft of backlog to ingest into the fleet when the grounding is lifted. We believe that we can manage that at a rate of about 5 to 10 airplanes per week, which if you do the math implied to two to four months before all of our 2019 and prior MAX aircraft are back into operational service." Why will it take so long? Despite airlines being eager to return the MAX to service, the process takes a long time. There will be extensive work needed on individual aircraft as well as intricate jostling of flight schedules. When aircraft have experienced extended downtime, there is maintenance that needs to happen to ensure that they are safe to operate. And then there's the scheduling. Often schedules are planned months in advance, so it's not as simple as slotting an aircraft back in where it left off. If that plane flies internationally, other individual countries and aviation authorities will also need to approve the aircraft to allow them to fly in their airspace. The process for reintegration is lengthy but Southwest hopes to launch in February. Photo: Southwest Airlines When will Southwest's aircraft fly? At the moment, Southwest is working with the expectation that the grounding will be lifted in mid-December. It said that Boeing had reassured the airline that it was aiming to return the MAX to service in the fourth quarter of 2019. Southwest hopes to operate the aircraft from 8th February 2020. In addition, Southwest's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer was able to share some good news about the fleet. She said that Boeing has now promised the airline a delivery of seven MAX aircraft by the end of this year. Southwest expected to see all 41 deliveries taken by that time, but these have now been pushed to 2020. Therefore, Southwest will see the remaining 34 new aircraft from this year's order delivered next year. After that, Southwest will be able to retire some of its other Boeing types. Fleet renovation 2020 will be a big year for Southwest in terms of aircraft acquisition. Tammy Romo, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, said that 72 new Boeing aircraft will be delivered. With so many deliveries, Southwest will be able to retire some of its fleet. In 2020, 72 MAX aircraft will be delivered. Photo: Southwest Airlines It's currently working to prevent an aircraft deficit in light of the grounding and lack of deliveries. It's already postponed the retirement of seven 737-700 aircraft. But Southwest is hopeful for the next deliveries. It says that at the end of the year it will expect to retire those -700s. That will bring the number of total retired aircraft to 18. With seven new deliveries expected before the year is out, Southwest predicts its fleet to be 749 strong by the end of 2019. If all goes well.