Boeing: 737 Max will resume flight in mid-2020

Boeing announced this week it plans to resume flying its 737 Max jet in the middle of this year after the plane was involved in two high-profile crashes that drew scrutiny of its safety and forced it to be grounded worldwide.

The company said in a statement Tuesday that while it anticipates the government’s ungrounding of the jet to take place over the summer, the timeline is “subject to our ongoing attempts to address known schedule risks and further developments that may arise.”

“Returning the MAX safely to service is our number one priority, and we are confident that will happen. We acknowledge and regret the continued difficulties that the grounding of the 737 MAX has presented to our customers, our regulators, our suppliers, and the flying public,” the company said. 

Boeing’s new CEO added Wednesday that production on the 737 Max will resume in the spring, months before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is anticipated to certify the grounded plane is safe for flight.

“I’m all in on it, the company is all in on it, and I believe the FAA is all in on it,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun told The Associated Press.

The Boeing 737 Max jet received intense scrutiny after two crashes between October 2018 and March 2019 killed 346 people.

The aircraft has been grounded since March 2019, and the FAA has maintained that it is “following a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the Boeing 737 MAX to passenger service.”

Boeing was fined more than $3.9 million in December for installing faulty parts on approximately 133 of its 737 jets.