Boeing
- A newly identified software flaw in the Boeing 737 Max will take months to fix, according to several outlets, making it unlikely that the embattled aircraft will return to the skies before October.
- The US Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it had recently found a "potential risk" with the Max that Boeing must address before the aircraft can return to service.
- A Boeing official told Reuters on Thursday that the software issue would take until at least September to fix, while sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg it was estimated to take "a few weeks to three months," while another said it could take "two to three months, but not longer."
- The plane has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes involving the aircraft killed a combined 346 people.
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A newly identified software flaw in the Boeing 737 Max will take months to fix, according to several outlets, making it unlikely that the embattled aircraft will return to the skies before October.
The US Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it had recently found a "potential risk" with the Max that Boeing must address before the aircraft can return to service. Sources told Reuters that the risk was discovered during a simulator test last week.
The FAA added that it was "following a thorough process" and "not a prescribed timeline" in order to get the plane back into the air. The plane was banned from flying in March after two fatal crashes involving the aircraft killed a combined 346 people.
A company official told Reuters on Thursday that the software issue would take until at least September to fix, which would delay the plane's return until October at the earliest.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
American civil aviation and Boeing investigators search through the debris at the site of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019.
Sources familiar with the matter gave Bloomberg varied estimates on how long the fix would take, with one person saying it was estimated to take "a few weeks to three months," while another said it could take "two to three months, but not longer."
In May, Boeing reportedly told one of its key buyers of the 737 Max, Indian budget carrier SpiceJet, that the grounded 737 Max would be back in the air by July after completing an update for the Max's troubled control software, which has been linked to both crashes.
Boeing said it was confident that the update will make the Max "one of the safest airplanes ever to fly."
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