Boeing on Monday said that it is expecting US regulators to give a green light to its 737 Max in the coming weeks, following which the company will start deliveries and resume services of the controversial plane. The company said that after the approval, it expects to resume deliveries of 737 Max in December and start the commercial services of the plane as early as January.
Boeing is expecting approval of US Federal Aviation Administration for the return of the plane early next month. The 737 Max is grounded since March following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. Shares of the aerospace company rallied on Wall Street following the news. Boeing has been embroiled in controversies since the last few months which are taking a toll on its profits.
Following the accidents and the subsequent grounding as per the order of the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing decided to halt the deliveries of its 737 Max. In fact, it also has slashed production of the plane by 20% to 42 a month.
Last week, the company said that it expects the US regulators to give approval soon and the flights could be resumed in December. On Monday, the company stated that an early approval by the Federal Aviation Administration could see the company resume its deliveries as early as possible. However, Boeing also mentioned that getting approval for training changes would take some more time.
Will it be an improved Boeing 737 Max?
A lot of questions have been raised on the plane's faulty design, which is being cited as the major reason for the two fatal crashes. Late last month, in two hearings at Capitol Hill, Boeing's chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg was slammed by US lawmakers over the plane's defective design. Muilenburg during the hearings admitted that the company made mistakes.
However, according to the company, it has now made a major change in the system in order to include data from two sensors. Boeing informed that it has already completed a test of the software with the Federal Aviation Administration.
On the other hand, aviation companies across the world have been bleeding owing to the grounding of 737 Max. Late last week both Southwest Airlines and American Airlines said that it has cancelled all its 737 Max flights till early March. The companies so far have lost more than $1 billion and the amount is likely to further increase.
