American Airlines said Wednesday that it expects federal officials to sign off on software updates and other changes to Boeing's 737 Max jets later this year and plans to resume passenger service on the aircraft on Jan. 16.
"American Airlines anticipates that the impending software updates to the Boeing 737 Max will lead to recertification of the aircraft later this year and resumption of commercial service in January 2020," the airline said in a statement. "We are in continuous contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation. "
Despite American's announcement, FAA officials maintained there is no timeline for returning the planes to service and said it has not given airlines a date for when the grounding will be lifted.
"The FAA is following a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the Boeing 737 Max to passenger service," the agency said in an email. "The FAA is continuing to evaluate Boeing's software modification and is still developing necessary training requirements."
American's date for resuming service with the Max would make it the last of the major carriers to resume flying the Max under dates that have been announced. Southwest Airlines, which has the most Max jets of any U.S. carrier, has removed the jets from its schedule until Jan. 5, while United Airlines has removed the Max from its schedule until Dec. 19.
American's announcement comes nearly seven months after regulators around the world grounded the Max in the wake of two crashes that killed 346 people. This month marks the anniversary of the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air flight that plunged into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew aboard. A final report on that crash is expected later this year.
Less than five months later, a 737 Max flying under the Ethiopian Airlines banner went down shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, March 10, killing all 157 passengers and crew members aboard. In both instances, preliminary investigations pointed to issues with an anti-stall system known as the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system, which was designed to compensate for changes to the plane's design.
The crashes have led to increased scrutiny of the process that the FAA followed in certifying the newest version of the popular 737 aircraft was safe to fly and Boeing's role in that process. Both the FAA and Boeing are now subjects of numerous inquiries by congressional committees, the Department of Transportation's inspector general and the Department of Justice's criminal division.
Boeing has been working for months on software updates to the anti-stall system -- an effort the company says has included hundreds of hours of software analysis, laboratory testings and simulator verification. In addition, it has conducted two test flights, including an inflight certification test with the FAA, which must certify the changes before the planes can be cleared to fly.
American said that once flights on the 737 Max resume Jan. 16, they will gradually increase throughout January and into February. The airline said that as that happens, there may be additional schedule changes. Passengers affected by those changes will be contacted directly by the airline.
American said it is working on accommodations for travelers who do not wish to travel on the 737 Max once it resumes flying and will release details in coming weeks.
Flights scheduled on Max planes through Jan. 6 will not be canceled. Instead, in most instances American will substitute other aircraft in their place. Schedules for travelers with reservations Jan. 7-15 will be updated on Sunday.
Business on 10/10/2019