Boeing wants grounded 737 Max planes ‘back in the air’

Boeing expects its 737 Max planes to be back in service by the year’s end as the company reports a sharp drop in third-quarter earnings due to the planes’ grounding.

In this Monday, April 29, 2019 file photo, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg speaks during a news conference. Picture: AP

Boeing said on Wednesday that it expects its 737 Max planes, grounded after two fatal crashes in the past two years, to be back in the air by the end of this year.

Boeing had originally planned to relaunch the planes by this month.

The extra delay means that the 737 Max planes are unlikely to be flying during the crucial holiday period, in an additional blow to the company’s profits.

“Our top priority remains the safe return to service of the 737 Max, and we’re making steady progress,” Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement.

Several major airlines have postponed scheduling 737 Max flights until early next year as a precautionary measure.

Boeing reported on October 23, 2019 a sharp drop in third-quarter earnings due to the 737 Max grounding, but said it still expects regulatory approval this year to return the plane to service. Picture: AFP

Boeing has said it is assuming regulators will clear the plane for return to service in the current quarter, emphasising that it is up to the regulators, and not Boeing, to approve the planes to fly again.

The Max was grounded worldwide after an Ethiopian Airlines crash in March that killed 157 passengers and crew, following an accident a year earlier in which a 737 Max flown by Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea, killing 189.

The crashes were disastrous for the 103-year-old airline, costing CEO Dennis Muilenburg his chairman role.

On Tuesday, Boeing replaced Kevin McAllister as head of its key commercial aeroplane unit, which made the 737 Max.

Boeing on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in third-quarter earnings due to the 737 Max grounding.

The company booked an additional $900 million in costs due to the Max as it reported much lower profits than analysts expected.

Boeing said on Tuesday, October 22, 2019, that McAllister, pictured, is out as chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Picture: AP

However, shares advanced in pre-market trading after Boeing reiterated its timetable for Max regulatory approval and said it expects to fully restore Max production levels by late 2020.

Net income was $1.2 billion, down 50.6 per cent from the year-ago period.

Revenues tumbled 20.5 per cent to $20 billion, reflecting a hit from halted deliveries of the Max.

The results came hours after Indonesian investigators briefed families of people killed in the Lion Air crash in October 2018.

In a slide-show presentation, Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee told relatives their report would include problems with the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, a flight handling mechanism, as a “contributing factor.”

A preliminary investigation of the deadly March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash has also pointed at the MCAS.

A worker walks past a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aeroplane being built for Oman Air at Boeing's assembly facility in Renton, Washington. Picture: AP

MORE NEWS

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea weds again

Driver held after 39 bodies found in truck

Calls to probe magistrate over affair, drinking claims

Boeing’s efforts to have the plane recertified have centred on upgrades to the MCAS.

The company, which trimmed its Max production level, said it expects to “gradually increase the 737 Max production rate from 42 per month to 57 per month by late 2020.

Boeing also said it would trim its output of the 787 Dreamliner plane from the 14 planes per month currently to 12 beginning in late 2020 due to global trade uncertainties.

The company likewise pushed back the time frame for the 777X, a long-range, wide-body plane, to early 2021 from late 2020.

The plane’s development has been slowed by issues with the engine, which is being developed by General Electric.

Boeing shares rose 1.7 per cent to $342.67 in pre-market trading.