FAA Halts Boeing MAX Production Expansion, To Allow Jets To Resume Flying

(RTTNews) - The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA said it will not grant any production expansion of Boeing Co.'s MAX, including the 737-9 MAX, with a view to improving quality control. The move is part of the regulator's additional actions to heighten safety measures following the recent mid-flight incident with a Boeing plane's door plug.

However, the FAA said it will allow the grounded Boeing 737-9 MAX aircrafts to return to service after conducting a thorough inspection and maintenance process on each of the 171 aircrafts.

The federal regulator had grounded these 737 MAX 9 airplanes for inspections on January 6 after a mid-cabin door plug on Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-9 MAX airplane blew out in the middle of the flight on January 5.

Following the incident, the FAA also started a probe into Boeing's manufacturing practices and production lines, including those involving subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems.

In its latest statement, the agency said the halting of MAX production expansion comes on top of its investigation and ramped up oversight of Boeing and its suppliers to ensure that the Jan. 5 Boeing 737-9 MAX incident must never happen again.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two U.S. carriers that use the 737 Max, have found loose parts on similar aircraft, which has raised fears that such an incident can occur again.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said, "The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase... However, let me be clear: This won't be back to business as usual for Boeing. We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved."

Last week, the FAA had announced requirements for a rigorous inspection and maintenance process as a new and necessary step before it contemplates any further steps in the process to return Boeing 737-9 MAXs to service.

Since the incident, the FAA has laid out a series of actions to increase oversight of Boeing's production lines.

Further, the FAA approved the inspection and maintenance instructions after a thorough review of data from 40 inspections of grounded planes. Once completing the enhanced maintenance and inspection process on each aircraft, the door plugs on the 737-9 MAX will be in compliance with the original design which is safe to operate. This aircraft will not operate until the process is complete and compliance with the original design is confirmed, it said.

Earlier this week, the FAA also urged operators of Boeing 737-900ER aircraft to visually inspect mid-exit door plugs, as it has the same door plug design as in Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was involved in the incident.

The FAA said it will continue to support the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

Boeing, for years, has been going through a series of issues with its various planes. The aviation giant is still trying to turn around after its 737 Max passenger jets, its best-selling planes, were grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes.

In 2021 and 2022, the airplane maker revealed various other production flaws on the wide-body jets, halting deliveries for months.

Earlier in 2023, the company had paused deliveries of its 787 Dreamliners for several weeks to address a data analysis flaw.

In early 2023, the FAA convened 24 experts, from NASA, the FAA, labor unions, independent engineering experts, air carriers, manufacturers with delegated authority, legal experts and others, to review Boeing's safety management processes and how they affect the company's safety culture. The agency expects the report within weeks.