By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration said he is not currently considering lifting a production cap of 38 planes per month on Boeing’s 737 MAX imposed after a January 2024 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska Airlines Boeing plane missing four key bolts.
“Not at this time,” Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told reporters after a U.S. House hearing. He also said he was not discussing a change to the agency’s policy of inspecting all Boeing 737 MAXs and 787 Dreamliners before issuing airworthiness certificates for individual planes, rather than delegating those tasks to Boeing.
Boeing did not immediately comment.
The FAA last week – in a decision first reported by Reuters – extended by three years a program that allows Boeing to perform some tasks on the agency’s behalf like inspections, saying the planemaker had made improvements.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last week the planemaker is “pretty confident” that it can increase production of its best-selling 737 MAX jets to 42 a month.
After the FAA approves Boeing increasing output to 42 a month, “we do have subsequent rate increases in our plan,” which will typically be in increments of five aircraft a month and at least six months apart, he said.
In May 2022, the agency agreed to renew Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization for three years rather than the five Boeing had asked for to ensure the planemaker implemented “required improvements.”
Congress passed sweeping reforms in December 2020 on how the FAA certifies new airplanes after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people and led to the plane’s 20-month grounding.
The Office of Inspector General said FAA officials in 2023 sought to allow Boeing’s ODA to resume issuing final airworthiness certificates for 737 and 787s. Before FAA senior officials could approve the request, the Alaska mid-air emergency occurred.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Marguerita Choy)
