Boeing's 737 Max gets approval to fly passengers again
New York (CNN Business)The Federal Aviation Administration issued an order
Wednesday that paved the way for the troubled Boeing 737 Max to carry
passengers again, ending the jet's 20-month grounding.
The plane, the best-selling jet in Boeing's (BA) fleet, was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. It was
discovered that a safety feature meant to stop the plane from climbing too fast
and stalling had improperly forced the nose of the plane down, causing the
crashes.
The process of approving the plane to
carry passengers has stretched on far longer than originally expected and cost
Boeing more than $20 billion, according to the company. Lost orders for the jet
during that time could make it among the most expensive
mistakes ever
made by a company.
Although approval was expected this
week, Boeing (BA) shares nonetheless rose 6%
in premarket trading Wednesday.
The first step
The FAA action is only the first step in
allowing 59 airlines -- spread across 32 countries -- to once again fly the 387
grounded planes as part of their schedules. The FAA orders cover only US
domestic flights for the 737 Max jets operated by American, United and
Southwest Airlines, 72 in total. Flights to or within other countries will need
the approval of those nations' aviation authorities.
And as for the US, the FAA noted in
statement that before any of the planes can be flown with passengers again, the
necessary changes to the 737 Max identified in the approval process must be
installed and the FAA must inspect the individual planes. The pilots must also
complete additional training.
That process is expected to take between
a few weeks and a few months, depending on the airline. So far only American Airlines (AAL) has added the plane to its
schedule for
a handful of flights between Miami and New York in late December and early
January.
Other airlines are holding off. Southwest (LUV), which has 34 of the jets --
more than any other airline -- isn't expected to fly passengers on the 737 Max
until spring 2021. United (UAL) said it expects to start
flying the planes in the first three months of 2021.
Weakness in demand
What's not yet clear is whether passengers will try to
avoid flying on a 737 Max once those flights resume. US airlines are no longer charging
change fees to passengers who shift their travel plans, so fliers who want to
book away from a 737 Max flight can do so without penalty.
"If a customer doesn't want to fly
on the 737 Max, they won't have to," said a letter from American Airline
executives to the carrier's employees on Wednesday.
But Travel Fairness Now, a consumer
group, said Thursday it believes passengers should be able to get refunds on
their tickets instead of a credit if they don't want to fly on a 737 Max jet,
and then book on another flight to the same destination without paying any
difference in fares.
"The circumstances surrounding the
Boeing 737 Max are unprecedented in the history of commercial travel and call
for extraordinary protections for understandably concerned consumers,"
said Kurt Ebenhoch, executive director of Travel Fairness Now.
One thing that could slow the resumption
of 737 Max flights is the extraordinary drop in air traffic demand due to the combination of
the Covid-19 pandemic and the global recession it caused.
There are about 1,500 single aisle
passenger jets parked by airlines around the world, according to Ascend by
Cirium, a research firm that tracks plane usage -- and that number does not
include grounded 737 Max jets. Rather, it represents more than 25% of the
single aisle planes worldwide since the pandemic broke out.
Even if there is no need to increase the
number of planes they fly, airlines still want to start using their 737 Max
jets to replace older jets in their fleets, because the Max is about 15% more
fuel efficient than the older planes, said Rob Morris, global head of
consultancy at Cirium.
"Even though fuel prices are low
today ... that fuel saving could still account for something like $750-$1,000
per aircraft per day," he said. "In today's environment where
airlines want to preserve as much cash as possible [those savings are] very
welcome."
Family members of victims speak out
Some of the family members of those who
died in the crashes have objected to the Max's return to service. They say
Boeing made mistakes in its design, the newest version of a long-serving plane,
which made their version dangerous, and that the FAA erred in approving the
original version and recertifying it to fly now.
"The plane is inherently unstable
and it is unairworthy without its software," said Michael Stumo, whose
daughter Samaya Rose Stumo died in the March 2019 crash of an Ethiopian
Airlines plane. "They haven't fixed it so far. The flying public should
avoid the Max in the future. Change your flight."
Stumo and other family members held a
press conference Tuesday ahead of the announcement. Stumo said the FAA should
have insisted that a third sensor be added to determine if the plane is in
danger of stalling. He said other changes should have been made to the way
pilots are alerted if there is a problem.
"We as family members want to avoid
a third crash," he said.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the
union representing pilots at many US airlines including Southwest and United,
said that while it continues to evaluate the specific crew training rules for
the plane's return to service, "ALPA believes that the engineering fixes
to the flight-critical aircraft systems are sound and will be an effective
component that leads to the safe return to service of the 737 Max."
The investigation into how to fix the
plane was originally expected to be finished by the fall of 2019, but stretched
on as new questions about the plane arose.
FAA and Boeing praise the process
"The path that led us to this point
was long and grueling," said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson in a video
statement Wednesday. "But we said from the start that we would take the
time necessary to get this right. We were never driven by a timeline, but
rather following a methodical and deliberate safety process. During this time
FAA employees diligently worked on the fixes that were necessary."
As part of the review process Dickson flew the plane himself in September, and went
through the training pilots will have to complete.
"Based on all the activities we
have undertaken during the past 20 months, and my personal experience flying
the aircraft, I can tell you now I am 100% comfortable with my family flying on
it," he said.
The FAA has worked throughout the
process with aviation authorities around the world, and most are expected to
issue their own orders to unground the plane as well. But there could be delays
in returning the jet to service around the world. The European Union Aviation
Safety Agency, which oversees flights in Europe, said Wednesday it expects to
take action in late December or early 2021.
And regulator Transport Canada said it
expects to conclude its review "very soon," although it added,
"there will be differences between what the FAA has approved today, and what
Canada will require for its operators."
Boeing also said it is confident that
the plane will be safe to fly once all the required steps are taken.
"We will never forget the lives
lost in the two tragic accidents that led to the decision to suspend operations,"
said David Calhoun, chief executive officer of The Boeing Company. "These
events and the lessons we have learned as a result have reshaped our company
and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality and
integrity."
Problems throughout the inspection
In addition to coming up with a software
update to the faulty safety system, problems with the safety of the plane's wiring were discovered. There were also
questions about the lack of training for pilots who were moving from the
original 737 to the 737 Max, which had been a selling point for the plane.
Boeing's 737 Max
debacle could be the most expensive corporate blunder ever
The investigation also revealed that
many Boeing employees were privately expressing doubts about the
planes during
the original approval process.
"Would you put your family on a Max
simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn't," wrote one employee to another in
an internal communication revealed during the investigation. Another employee
described the plane as "designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by
monkeys." And one wrote simply: "piss poor design."
-- CNN's Pete Muntean, Gregory Wallace and
Hanna Ziady contributed to this report
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