Europe-US regulatory split may prolong Max grounding

Bloomberg

Aviation executives are increasingly worried that a widening split between regulators in the US and Europe will extend the grounding of Boeing Co’s 737 Max, sowing confusion and fear as officials work to approve the resumption of commercial flights after two deadly crashes.
Sounding the alarm over the increasingly tenuous alliance were Aengus Kelly, who heads the largest global jet lessor, and United Airlines boss Oscar Munoz. Alexandre de Juniac, who heads global airline trade group IATA, said he was “worried and disappointed” by the lack of unity among regulators. Aircraft-financing pioneer Steven Udvar-Hazy called it “uncharted territory.”
The regulatory discussions, which had been playing out behind closed doors, spilled into the open after the head of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that his group is conducting its own study of Boeing’s design changes along with a broader review.
Under standard procedures used in past accidents, regulators would have delegated authority to the Federal Aviation Administration, which takes the lead in overseeing US-built jets.
“The challenge of the moment is certification,” said Kelly, chief executive officer of AerCap Holdings NV, in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “When will this airplane be permitted to fly on a global basis?”
What’s unclear is if European authorities are diverging on issues like the need for hardware changes to the Max, or are being diligent with a widening review of the Boeing jetliner, grounded for nearly six months, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with Teal Group.
“It’s tough to filter out negative messaging because everyone involved needs to show their concern and diligence,” Aboulafia said by phone. There’s also the specter of “politics rearing its head. It’s the worst case and highly unlikely, but nonetheless it’s on people’s minds.”
Boeing has said the Max is still on track to be cleared by US regulators early in the fourth quarter. Southwest Airlines Co, the largest operator of the plane, thinks the go-ahead is likely to happen in early-to-mid November. Airlines will still need to make a range of preparations to ready the planes after they’re approved to fly, and Southwest has removed the Max from its schedule through early January.
“We continue to work with the FAA and global regulators on addressing their concerns in order to safely return the Max to service,” Boeing said.
EASA’s objective is “to ensure that no similar weaknesses in the design are present in the other (safety critical) areas of the 737 Max design,” Executive Director Patrick Ky told a committee of the European Parliament. The independent review without FAA delegation is among four demands that EASA spelled out in a letter to US regulators, weeks after flight-control software was linked to the second fatal Max accident in five months.
Europe’s insistence on its own analysis reflects an erosion of trust in the FAA after officials signed off on a software system that went haywire on the Max because of a faulty sensor.
The so-called Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) pushed the Max’s nose down in both crashes until pilots lost control. In total, 346 people were killed.
EASA’s design review has ranged far beyond Boeing’s MCAS fix, delving into the Max’s flight control system and all associated functions and systems, Ky indicated.