US airlines rush to secure 737 Max simulators
Bottleneck expected after Boeing says pilots need
more training before jet returns to skies
Southwest Airlines says it has
three 737 Max simulators waiting for FAA certification, with another three more
set for delivery at the end of this year.
US airlines are struggling to
secure flight simulators for the 737 Max after Boeing said extra training will
be needed for pilots before the aircraft returns to service.
There are
only 34 simulators worldwide for the jet, creating a potential bottleneck as
airlines vie to schedule training time for thousands of pilots and causing
further delays to its return, even after aviation regulators lift the
grounding.
Boeing said for months that pilots would only need to train on
a computer in order to qualify to fly the Max, which has been grounded since
March following two fatal crashes, only to reverse course earlier this
week.
Among the three major US airlines with Max aircraft in their fleet,
Southwest Airlines said the company had three simulators that it ordered in 2018
with "minimal" work remaining until the US Federal Aviation Administration
certified them for use. It has three more set to be delivered at the end of this
year.
Although they were not previously required, "we ordered the
simulators so the pilots would have the option" of training on the Max model, a
Southwest spokeswoman said.
$6m-$8m - the cost of a Boeing 737
Max simulator
United Airlines said it already had one working
simulator, with three more set for delivery by March. American Airlines said it
"continues to work with the FAA and Boeing throughout the recertification
process", but a company spokesman offered no details on simulator training for
its pilots.
Part of Boeing's original sales pitch to airlines was that
the Max would not require simulator training. It was a factor in Boeing's
decision to update the 737 rather than design a wholly new aircraft, which led
to the use of heavier engines and then a flight-control system to counteract
their effect. That system was later implicated in the crashes in Indonesia and
Ethiopia which killed 346 people.
The FAA and other regulators are yet to
approve Boeing's proposed changes to that flight-control system and to pilot
training, which will be required before the Max is certified as safe and the
grounding is lifted.
A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 - a
different model to the Max - crashed in Iran on Wednesday killing all 176 people
onboard and adding to the problems faced by Boeing which has been criticised for
its response to the earlier Max crashes.
Boeing wants to rebuild
confidence in the Max among customers and flyers and that likely influenced the
company's decision to recommend simulator training, said John Cox, an American
crash investigator and retired airline pilot.
A person familiar with the
matter said Boeing decided to recommend simulator training after pilots
participating in the recertification process failed to follow proper cockpit
procedures and checklists.
Simulators cost between $6m and $8m each, and
then another $400 to $500 an hour to operate because of labour and maintenance
costs.
CAE, a Canadian company that supplies 80 per cent of the world
market for flight simulators, has been anticipating a rise in customer demand
for Max simulators since November, said Hélène Gagnon, the company's
vice-president for public affairs.
Sales and deliveries of Max simulators
are doing well, chief executive Marc Parent said during a November 13 earnings
call. There had been five orders and nine deliveries in the first half of the
company's fiscal year - almost 10 per cent of the 48 orders in the product's
history. Chief financial officer Sonya Branco said a similar number of orders
and deliveries were expected in the second half of the fiscal year.
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