News Backgrounder
MAX’s long climb into the region’s skies
December 1st 2020
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may have given the 737 MAX the green light to re-enter commercial service, but the type has to overcome several more hurdles in Asia and the Middle East before it can return to the fleets of its operators. Read More »
Last month, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) was quick to declare last month it would not allow the aircraft to fly in China because of lingering safety concerns.
 |
China was the first country in the world to ground the plane after two fatal accidents, involving Indonesia’s Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, killed 346 people. The crashes have been blamed on a faulty anti-stall system, MCAS, and a failure to inform pilots it existed on the aircraft. In a statement, the CAAC said that there was “no set timetable” for the resumption of flights, the results of investigations into the accidents “must be made clear” and the aircraft design improvements be “effective” and “receive approval”.
In October, CAAC director, Feng Zhenglin, said China’s prompt grounding of the aircraft was based on “zero tolerance” to potential safety risks. Its decision to delay approval of a return to service for the MAX was announced soon after Boeing forecast China would buy more than 8,600 new aircraft, valued at $1.4 trillion, in the next two decades, The OEM’s forecast was increased as domestic travel in China was close to operating at pre-coronavirus levels.
The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also has not cleared the type. It has established a Return to Service Committee for the MAX that includes specialists from various areas working with their counterparts in the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
“We will continue to work closely with the FAA and EASA on the recertification process. The GCAA will issue a Safety Decision stipulating technical requirements to ensure a safe return to service of the MAX aircraft. We also will announce our certification timelines in due course,” a GCCA statement said.
Announcing clearance for the jet to fly in the U.S. last month, FAA Administrator, Steve Dickson, said the MAX was “the most heavily scrutinized transport aircraft in aviation history. I can tell you my family and your family will be safe on this aircraft.”
In the meantime, Boeing faces the mammoth task of returning more than 800 MAXs, grounded for 20 months, to the skies. It must ensure all the planes have had upgrades installed and provide assistance to airline customers for bringing the type back into service. The company also has to ensure pilots are trained to understand the changes to the MAX’s operating systems and find new buyers for more than 60 grounded jets that customers have decided not to acquire.
Boeing executive vice president, Greg Smith, told analysts last month he expected delivery of about half of the 450 MAXs Boeing has in storage by the end of next year and the majority of the remaining jets in 2022.
In addition to rescinding the order that grounded the aircraft, the FAA also published an Airworthiness Directive specifying design changes that must be made before the aircraft returns to service, issued a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC), and published the MAX training requirements.
These actions do not allow the MAX to return immediately to the skies. The FAA must approve 737 MAX pilot training program revisions for each U.S. airline operating the MAX and will retain its authority to issue airworthiness certificates and export certificates of airworthiness for all new MAX aircraft manufactured since the FAA issued the grounding order. Furthermore, airlines that have parked their MAX aircraft must take required maintenance steps to prepare them to fly again.
| Ryanair buys more MAXs after FAA frees the aircraft to fly Ryanair was first out of the post exile blocks for the MAX when CEO, Michael O’Leary, committed to 75 more of the type. At press time, the Irish LCC announced the order for the MAX8200s which brought its total commitment to the single aisle airplane to 210 at a value of US$22 billion. Deliveries are scheduled from late in the first quarter of next year to December 2024. The Dublin-headquartered airline operates no frills flights to Europe and the Middle East. A few days earlier, American Airlines and Boeing conducted a test flight, with media onboard, of the ‘new” MAX8200 equipped with the systems required by the FAA to improve its safety following to two deadly crashes of the type in 2018 and early in 2019. There have been 565 cancellations of the MAX since its global grounding in March last year, but to be fair to the manufacturer some of back tracking of orders was from airlines reneging on their contracts because of the impact of COVID-19. As a result of the grounding and the exposure of weaknesses in aviation safety oversight at both Boeing and the FAA, the manufacturer has undergone a structural realignment that has brought 50,000 engineers into a single organization that includes a new product and services safety unit. Engineers have been given a larger role in improving safety, quality, transparency and innovation in the aircraft manufacturing process. |
