FAA Will Meet With Airlines About the Boeing 737 MAX on Friday
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration will meet with airlines and pilot unions on Friday to discuss the ongoing safety concerns surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX planes.
"As part of the FAA's overseeing the continuous operational safety of our nation's aviation safety system, the agency continues to gather all available information and data in considering the return of the 737 MAX to service," the aviation body said in a statement to TPG. "To further inform its ongoing review, the FAA is convening a meeting on April 12 with safety representatives of the three U.S.-based commercial airlines that have the Boeing 737 MAX in their fleets, as well as the pilot unions for those airlines."
Those airlines include Southwest, with 34 Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes in its fleet, American Airlines with 24 MAX 8s, and United with 14 of the MAX 9 model. Some of those airlines' pilots have already tested a fix to the software thought to be at the root of the plane's safety issues.
The FAA says it will gather facts and information to understand the viewpoints of the airlines and pilots as it "decides what needs to be done before returning the aircraft to service."
All Boeing 737 MAX planes were grounded worldwide after two similar crashes involving the jet killed 346 people in the span of just five months. The first crash was on board Lion Air flight 610 in October 2018, and the second accident happened on March 10 on board Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
The FAA was the last aviation regulatory body in the world to ground the plane on March 13.
The US Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Boeing's FAA certification of the 737 MAX.
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