Boeing gets go-ahead for test flights of its troubled 737 Max

Boeing has received Federal Aviation Administration approval to start test flights of its 737 Max to demonstrate that it can fly safely with new flight control software. The flights, which could begin as soon as Monday, represent a major step in the company’s effort to get its bestselling plane flying again.

The Max was grounded in March 2019 after a pair of fatal crashes — in Indonesia and Ethiopia — that killed 346 people. The resulting crisis cost Boeing billions of dollars, including compensation paid to victims and airlines. It also led to the ouster of the company’s chief executive, set off government inquiries and raised questions about the rushed effort to build and approve the Max.

The certification flights, conducted by FAA pilots, will probably take place in the Seattle area, where the plane is made. A top Boeing test pilot will also be on the flights. “Testing is expected to take several days, and will include a wide array of flight maneuvers and emergency procedures to enable the agency to assess whether the changes meet FAA certification standards,” the agency said in an email Sunday to Senate and House oversight committee staff members.

If the flights are successful, it could still be months before the planes are deemed ready to fly again. If the FAA identifies further problems, Boeing may need to make additional changes. The crashes were caused in part by anti-stall software on the Max, known as MCAS, which automatically pushed the nose of the planes downward. Boeing developed a fix for the software, though regulators have identified other problems since.

FAA officials will spend a week or more preparing a report detailing their findings from the flights. Once that is complete, Boeing will submit a package of materials to the agency that will include details of the new software and how it was designed and tested.

The FAA — as well as an outside group of experts — will then review that submission, a process that could take weeks longer. The agency, working with international counterparts, will also determine what, if any, new training it will require for pilots. The agency can then issue orders to install the software update and allow the Max to fly again.

Even then, it will be weeks, or perhaps more than a month, before airlines can fly the Max again. The planes are in storage, and will require maintenance and testing before they are ready for commercial flights. Boeing will also have to receive approval from regulators around the world.

The Max has been grounded for longer than Boeing and the airlines initially expected. In April, Boeing said that its work on the software fix was delayed after an internal review process identified problems with the work that had been done. And the FAA, which has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, has been especially thorough in its review.

At a Senate hearing on June 17, lawmakers from both parties sharply criticized the FAA administrator, Steve Dickson, for what some have described as a too cozy relationship with the companies the agency regulates.

“It is hard not to conclude your team at the FAA has deliberately attempted to keep us in the dark,” Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Commerce Committee, told Dickson. Sen. Maria Cantwell, the committee’s top Democrat, meanwhile, described the agency’s communication and oversight as “fragmented.”

The Max crisis has dealt a devastating blow to Boeing’s business. In January, the company estimated that costs associated with the grounding will exceed $18 billion, but that was before the disastrous spread of the coronavirus. The three carriers in the United States that operate the Max — Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines — have canceled thousands of flights in recent months. At Air Canada, some pilots who were licensed to fly the Max but not other planes in the carrier’s fleet, had to stop flying after the grounding.

So far this year, Boeing has seen net orders for the Max decline by more than 300 jets, with thousands remaining, amid industrywide belt-tightening as the coronavirus pandemic has ground most air travel to a halt. In April, Southwest, Boeing’s largest single customer for the Max, said it had more than halved the number of the jets it would take this year and next, to just 48.

Boeing’s sales, profit and share price have slumped in recent months. In Renton, Washington, Boeing continues to produce the Max, though at a slower pace. With the planes grounded, Boeing has not been able to deliver the new planes, and instead is stockpiling them.

Spirit Aerosystems, a key Boeing supplier, said this month that Boeing had slashed an order for fuselage parts, cutting its request to 72 shipsets from 216 earlier this year. The aviation slowdown coupled with a recovery that could take years has led Boeing to cut about 10% of its workforce, or about 16,000 jobs worldwide.

“The global pandemic has changed the way we live and work,” Boeing’s chief executive, David L. Calhoun, said in a note to staff in April. “It is changing our industry. We are facing utterly unexpected challenges.”