Boeing
Seeks Blessing to Deliver 737 MAX as FAA Reviews Pilot Training
Plane maker discussing whether it can deliver aircraft before pilots have
undergone required training
Boeing is running low on
parking spots for the 737 MAX as finished planes pile up. Here, an employee
works on 737 MAX planes at a Washington factory. PHOTO: JASON REDMOND/AGENCE
FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By Andrew Tangel
and Andy Pasztor
Boeing Co. BA -1.77% hopes to deliver 737 MAX aircraft to airlines before the
end of the year even if regulators haven't approved related pilot training,
people familiar with the matter said.
As the plane maker prepares for the Federal Aviation Administration to lift a MAX
flight ban as soon as December, Boeing is discussing with regulators whether it
can deliver the aircraft before airline pilots have undergone required training
needed to fly the jet, these people said. The emerging plan comes amid
increasing signs there will be lag between an FAA's lifting of a flight ban and
its approval of new training for pilots.
Delivering aircraft before all the regulatory approvals are complete would
relieve pressure on the manufacturer as it contemplates further cutting or
halting MAX production amid the protracted grounding. It would also help
airlines that have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and disrupted
passengers' travel plans. Under the plan, airlines still wouldn't fly the plane
with passengers until the training occurs.
"Subject to strict regulatory approval, we continue to complete key
milestones that put us on a path to certification of the MAX in December, with
training approved in January, paving the way for the safe return of the MAX to
commercial service," a Boeing spokesman said.
The FAA's order is expected as soon as mid-December, barring any further
engineering and testing delays that have kept the MAX fleet grounded since a
second 737 MAX crashed in Ethiopia in March, the people familiar with the
matter said. That crash followed another accident in Indonesia less than five
months earlier; in all, 346 people died.
Last week, Boeing cleared a key hurdle following a series of certification
simulator tests with the FAA, a person familiar with the process said.
But related pilot training isn't expected to be formally approved until a
number of weeks after the FAA certifies the MAX as safe for flight, following a
public comment period, the people said. That would effectively prevent airlines
from carrying passengers until January at the earliest under the current
expected timing.
Airlines have been anxious for Boeing to resume deliveries of the MAX and want
to avoid bottlenecks and long waits once the plane is cleared for service.
Southwest Airlines Co. LUV -0.10% and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL -0.42%
said last week they were taking the MAX out of their schedules through early
March, longer than previously signaled. Carriers have a series of steps to
prepare their aircraft to carry passengers. Not only do they need to take them
out of storage, but they are also planning their own demonstration flights and
public-relations campaigns.
Southwest and American want to train all their 737 pilots before adding the MAX
back into schedules to avoid scheduling issues that could arise if only some
pilots are able to operate the plane.
Since the spring, both FAA and Boeing officials sketched out a process that
envisioned MAX deliveries resuming roughly simultaneously with completion of
pilot-training efforts. Those earlier scenarios didn't take into account
additional weeks needed for regulators to complete training requirements and
for airlines to implement those changes.
As the end of the year approaches, Boeing is running low on parking spots for
the 737 MAX as finished planes pile up at locations in the Puget Sound area.
Boeing has been producing the 737 at a rate of 42 planes a month at its Renton,
Wash., factory since the aircraft's grounding, down from a previous monthly
rate of 52. The manufacturer has stored planes at airfields in the Pacific
Northwest and even put some in employee parking spaces.
While Boeing has about two months' of parking spots available, the plane maker
is identifying other storage space if needed, the person familiar with the
process said.
Boeing Chairman Dave Calhoun has said the FAA's ungrounding order would start a
longer process to fully return the MAX to service around the world, an effort
expected to last into early 2021.
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