Boeing seems to be feeling the heat of regulatory pressure. The company reportedly on Thursday said that further delay in returning 737 Max jet could compel it to temporarily halt production of the airplanes. The news comes a day after the airplane maker said that its chief commercial engineer John Hamilton is retiring.
Boeing's crisis continue to deepen as the company's continuous efforts towards getting back its 737 Max aircraft doesn't seem to bear fruit. However, the company said that it doesn't expect any order cancellations due to the grounding of its 737 Max jets.
Boeing anticipates further delay
Boeing said that it does not material impact on its revenues or earnings owing to the grounding of 737 Max aircrafts, according to Reuters. In the letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in October, Boeing had written that the size of its 737 Max delivery backlogs may make the company temporarily halt production of the aircraft.
Boeing's best-selling aircraft 737 Max has been grounded across the world since March following two fatal accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.
Following the grounding of the aircrafts, Boeing in April started trimming production of 737 max jets. The company cut the production from 52 to 42 a month, as the grounding has resulted in a temporary halt of deliveries.
Boeing can only wait
Last month, Boeing had said that it expects the aircraft to return as early as in December. However, the very next day, the FAA administrator Steve Dickson said that he has asked his team to take the required time to scrutinize the plane. This was the first indication that 737 Max's return could further get delayed.
Moreover, in late November the Federal Aviation Administration in a new letter to the aircraft maker said that it was planning to review each and every Boeing 737 Max aircrafts individually before they can be delivered to customers.
To add to Boeing's worries is the retirement of Hamilton. The aircraft maker said that Hamilton wanted to retire last year but decided to stay back in order to help the company return its 737 Max back to service. Hamilton played a key role in Boeing's response to the grounding of the 737 Max.
