Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared Boeing’s troubled 737 Max to fly again. The approval came in a signed order from FAA Administrator Steven Dickson after the airliner was grounded for 20 months due to a pair of crashes that claimed the lives of 346 people. It was the longest grounding of a jetliner in the history of civil aviation and affected nearly 400 planes in global fleets. Dickson said the agency was in the final stages of reviewing design changes to the Max that would make it safe to return to the skies. “I will lift the grounding order only after our safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards,” he said in a statement on November 18. The FAA will permit Boeing to resume delivery of newly produced 737 Max aircraft which will have the design changes in place. But the agency itself will issue the Airworthiness Certificate for each aircraft. This is significant because in the past, Boeing was permitted to issue those certificates themselves.
“The FAA’s directive is an important milestone,” claimed Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We will continue to work with regulators around the world and our customers to return the airplane back into service worldwide.” The design changes and new pilot training requirements will be spelled out in an Airworthiness Directive that will go into effect when it appears in the Federal Register. The green light follows numerous Congressional hearings on the crashes. Those led to criticism of the FAA for what was considered lax oversight and Boeing also came under fire for rushing to implement a new software system that put profits ahead of safety and ultimately saw Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg being fired. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) has expressed confidence that the 737 Max is safe. “Based on the Airworthiness Directive, 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 union said in a recent statement. Boeing has flown the Max with its updated software for 360 hours on 207 flights.
Regulators around the globe grounded the Max in March 2019 after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. That accident happened less than 5 months after another Max, flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air, plunged into the Java Sea. All passengers and crew aboard both aircraft perished. Investigators focused on anti-stall software that Boeing had devised to counter the plane’s tendency to tilt nose-up because of the size and placement of the engines. That software pushed the nose down repeatedly on both of the ill-fated jets, overcoming the pilots’ struggles to regain control. In each case, a single faulty sensor triggered the nose-down pitch. The fatal flaws with the Max can be traced to a breakdown late in the plane’s development, when test pilots, engineers and regulators were left in the dark about a fundamental overhaul to an automated system that would ultimately play a role in the 2 crashes. A year before the plane was finished, Boeing made the system more aggressive and riskier. While the original version relied on data from at least 2 types of sensors, the final version used just one, leaving the system without a critical backup safeguard. In each of the doomed flights, pilots fought to regain control after a single damaged sensor sent both planes into unrecoverable nose dives within minutes.
Nearly 400 Max jets were in service worldwide when they were grounded and Boeing has built about 450 more airliners since then. Every single one of them has been in storage and must now undergo maintenance and additional modifications before they’re allowed to fly again. Pilots must also undergo simulator training which wasn't required when the aircraft was originally introduced. Boeing’s reputation has taken a beating since the crashes. After an 18-month investigation, the US House Transportation Committee heaped blame upon the company, which was under pressure to develop the Max to compete with the A320 from European rival Airbus. The investigators claimed Boeing suffered from a “culture of concealment” and pressured employees in a rush to get the aircraft to market. And that’s not all. Sales of the Max planes have plunged because of the crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Orders for more than 1,000 Max jets have been canceled or removed from Boeing’s backlog this year.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), headquartered in Cologne, has announced it will issue clearance for the jet in due time once the FAA has re-certified the 737 Max for service. The European authority has already indicated it was satisfied with the modifications made to the aircraft since its grounding, including software fixes to the automated flight control system. This means European airlines will soon be permitted to fly their Max jetliners as well. However, on top of the modifications already agreed upon, EASA insists on developing an additional "synthetic" sensor to allow onboard systems to confirm the aircraft’s angle of attack in flight. This extra requirement could take up to 2 years and is scheduled to begin after the Max is already flying again. Getting this plane back in the air, despite dismal global passenger numbers due to the coronavirus, is in the best interest of at least one big European customer. “The Max is key to our strategy going forward,” said Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson recently during an online conference. “The earlier they come the better. We are ready, when we get the Max going we can lower our costs even more.” The Irish low-cost carrier is the biggest European customer of the Max with 135 jets on order.
American Airlines is expected to be the first US carrier fly the Max again with plans to use the plane from December 29 through January 4 for flights connecting Miami and New York’s LaGuardia Airport on a single daily round trip. “Our customers will be able to easily identify whether they are traveling on a 737 Max even if schedules change,” says American spokesperson Curtis Blessing. “The aircraft type will be visible through the booking path and if schedules change, there will be notification.” United Airlines plans to start using the Max in the first quarter of 2021, pending more than 1,000 hours of work on each aircraft, pilot retraining and the outcome of its own test flights and analyses. United has promised passengers they’ll be able to rebook if they don't want to fly the Max.
Southwest Airlines, which had the largest Max fleet in the US before the grounding, says it will take longer, suggesting 3 to 4 months from the legal lifting of the ground order to its return to service. Southwest’s Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said in an industry earnings call last month, “We’ve got significant operational experience with the aircraft. It is our most cost-effective aircraft. It is our most reliable aircraft. It is our most environmentally friendly aircraft and it’s our most comfortable aircraft. So we really look forward to flying it again.” Delta Air Lines, which didn’t own a Max jet at the time of its grounding, may now be warming up to welcoming the plane to the fleet. In an interview with the Financial Times last Sunday, CEO Ed Bastion hinted at the possibility of purchasing the jetliner. “We’re talking to Boeing about lots of different things, the Max included,” he’s quoted as saying. "If there is an opportunity where we would feel comfortable acquiring the Max we’d have no hesitation doing that.”
Even though this airplane had an ill-fated start with tragic results, the reason it was selling well prior to its accidents will make it a popular airplane for many years to come. It’s all about economics. The reality is most airlines are losing enormous amounts of cash on a daily basis right now as thousands of their aircraft have been grounded because they can't fly profitably. We can all agree the industry will be smaller for some period into the future. As airlines bring the Max back into service, these jetliners will, in some cases, replace much less efficient aircraft now flying. In other cases, they will permit growth thanks to their improved economics. Don’t forget, the Max offers 15 per cent fuel savings versus older 737 models and the airplane itself is a bit lighter than the A320 and can hold more seats in the most dense configuration for each aircraft. That’s why Ryanair and Southwest were so eager to upgrade to this newest model of the world’s best-selling aircraft. There can be no doubt that the Max, when it returns safely, will help to pave the way for the global fleet to improve efficiency, save money and increase profitability.
Winning back the flying public's trust however, may take some time but this jet will fly again very soon and it will be one of the most thoroughly examined aircraft in the history of aviation.
Until next time...stay safe.
Insightful, as ever, George - sounds like a great plane to be on board - let's see how the public respond...