It was expected 737 max would return to service this year, that was always sort of the timeline from the Boeing side, but some regulators had made noises along those lines and now it looks as if it’s slipping into next year.
The tone between the FAA, the US regulator and Boeing has become a little bit more frosty. There’s some concern that Boeing might be making statements that are sort of accelerating the reintroduction of 737 max, but the FAA doesn’t want to be rushed.
Boeing is in a situation now where they have to make a decision about this, because right now they are still building it but it’s piling up on lots and in storage. They could actually put a hard break on it now and wait to see what the outcome is in terms of reintroducing it to service. A board meeting was scheduled previously, but did not have any meaningful outcome.
The plane has been grounded since March after 346 people lost their lives in two crashes.
Any changes to the production of MAX airplane could be bad for the U.S. economy. The grounding of planes and Boeing’s inability to deliver new aircrafts has had negative effect on the nation’s trade deficit.
Boeing has already cut their monthly production from 52 units to 42 since April. The company hoped to clear the backlog by the end of this year and resume normal deliveries, but it clearly did not happen. Some people in the industry are saying that it can take up to two years for the company to pull itself out of this ordeal.
