Boeing’s return-to-service plan for the 737 MAX will focus on treating each aircraft as if it had just been delivered.
“We will be assisting airlines as they reactivate airplanes out of storage and deploying support teams around the world,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Kevin McAllister said during a briefing at the Paris Air Show. “We will treat every one of these airplanes as if it was an entry-into-service. We will get it right.”
Boeing is finalizing changes to the model’s maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) flight-control law software in the wake of two fatal accidents in five months. Regulators grounded the 380-aircraft global MAX fleet in mid-March, shortly after the second accident, the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. The work is progressing, but the company offered no update on when the upgrades and related training modules will be finalized and ready to present to FAA and other authorities.
“We are making solid progress, but our regulators will decide when the MAX returns to service,” McAllister said. “I won’t speculate on a date.”
Boeing has completed more than 280 test flights as part of validating the new MCAS software. The next major step will be FAA certification flights.
The MAXs are parked at more than 90 airports around the world. Some fleets, such as Southwest Airlines’ 34 MAX 8s, are in one place, an Aviation Week Fleet Data Services analysis reveals. Other airlines have them spread around. Air Canada’s 24 MAXs are at six airports. China, with 96 MAXs flying for airlines based in-country, has the most on the ground.
Engine supplier CFM International is taking a similar approach to Boeing’s on the LEAP-1B engines that power the MAXs. CFM is working with operators to conduct any maintenance that can be done to either address known issues or zero-time components. The work will help ensure the MAXs will be as free of engine-related maintenance needs for as long as possible once they return.
Source: ATW
