The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed Sunday it had permitted key certification test flights for the grounded Boeing 737 Max that would start as quickly Monday.
In an e-mail to Congress, the FAA stated its Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) Board accomplished its assessment, “clearing the best way for flight certification testing to start. Flights with FAA test pilots might start as early as tomorrow, evaluating Boeing’s proposed modifications to the automated flight management system on the 737 MAX.”
The clearance comes after Boeing submitted security fixes for the federal government agency to assessment and signifies the FAA has permitted the plans.
Boeing wouldn’t touch upon when the flights would resume, with an opportunity remaining for last-minute delays. The e-mail to Congress famous that the “FAA has not decided on return to service” and has a quantity of extra steps.
“We proceed to work diligently on safely returning the 737 MAX to industrial service. We defer to the FAA and world regulators on the method,” an organization spokesman stated within the e-mail.
The 737 Max sequence of planes was grounded in March 2019, after two deadly crashes killed 346 individuals, one in October 2018 and one other in March 2019.
Boeing has been hit each by the crashes and the Corona Virus pandemic, which has brought about a pointy discount in world air journey. The firm has introduced hundreds of layoffs this 12 months.