The FAA decided to prevent Boeing from increasing production of any of its 737 MAX aircraft due to “unacceptable” quality issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced an update on its work after the incident on an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 on January 5th, and stated that it had prohibited Boeing from increasing production of all of its most popular 737 MAX model variants.
Aviation experts said this was a first for the industry, and it blamed “unacceptable” quality issues for the decision.
The fine could cause even more delays in the delivery of orders for MAX aircraft to airlines, like Ryanair, a significant customer.
The biggest airline in Europe based on passenger volume does not fly the MAX 9, but it is already having difficulties due to Boeing missing delivery dates for the MAX 8 and MAX 10 models.
This action will further harm suppliers as well as Boeing, a company that was trying to rebuild trust in its fleet of aircraft after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
On several MAX 9 aircraft that had their emergency exit door panels replaced, loose bolts were discovered.
It seems that the investigation, which was expanded to include quality issues at Boeing more broadly, was centered on the bolts.
Although the company had observed indications of subpar work at Boeing, Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, told Sky News last week that the airline’s aircraft remained safe.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker declared: “Until we are satisfied that the quality control issues discovered during this process are resolved, we will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX.”
“The quality assurance issues we have seen are unacceptable” .
Most importantly, there was no time limit on the order.
According to the most recent version of Boeing’s 737 master schedule, which establishes the production rate for suppliers, production is expected to increase to 42 aircraft per month in February, 47.2 in August, 52.5 by February 2025, and 57.7 in October 2025.
As part of its efforts to improve safety and quality, Boeing pledged to work “fully and transparently” with the FAA and to heed its directives.
In Wednesday’s after-hours trading, its shares dropped 2%.
After being forced to cancel thousands of flights while their MAX 9s were being inspected, Alaska and United Airlines hope to finish the process in the next few days and start operating the aircraft again on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
