Boeing 737 Max may not return until March

Bloomberg

Pilots at Southwest Airlines Co, the largest operator of the beleaguered Boeing Co 737 Max, warned that the grounded plane may not resume commercial flights until as late as March.
The carrier’s internal plans call for the Max to carry its first paying customers 45 to 60 days after US regulators lift a no-fly order on the plane, Greg Bowen, training and standards committee chairman at the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said.
Union President Jon Weaks said his “best guess” for the Max’s resumption of commercial service is January at the earliest and March at the latest.
Southwest expects regulators will certify the grounded jet to resume flights before Thanksgiving in the US, the airline’s chief financial officer said. Boeing, which hasn’t yet filed its final package of changes to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval, has said it is targeting lifting the grounding early in the fourth quarter.
The review of new Max software by the FAA and testing by pilots “are at least 30 days away, if not further,” Bowen said at a conference in Plano, Texas, for independent pilot unions. Those steps are needed before the flying ban is lifted.
The Max has been grounded worldwide since March, after two crashes killed a total of 346 people within five months.
“We are waiting on a return-to-service timeline from Boeing and the FAA before solidifying plans and logistics for putting the Max back into the air,” Southwest said in a statement. “We are continuing our work to evaluate options for introducing the Max back into our schedule.”
The carrier confirmed that re-introducing the jet should take about 45 days after the flight ban is lifted.
The Dallas-based airline has given all of its pilots 60 days from September 1 to complete a Max refresher course designed by the company, and also wants its aviators to complete any training required by the FAA before it resumes flights, the union said.
Southwest only flies the Boeing 737, including an earlier model known as the NG (next generation).
“The company recognises there are still a significant amount of pilots that haven’t even flown the Max,” said Matthew Cain, a Southwest captain who chairs the union’s safety committee.
By requiring all aviators to be trained to fly the Max, the airline hopes to avoid any discomfort among nervous passengers when substitute pilots have to be used, he said.
The union estimated it would take 200 man hours of work to get Southwest’s 34 grounded Max planes ready to fly again, while the airline put the number at “an average of 120 hours plus per aircraft.”
The carrier will first fly new Max planes that Boeing has built during the grounding, before operating the 34 stored by the airline in Arizona, SWAPA said.

Urgent inspections of older 737s expected
Bloomberg

Hundreds of older Boeing Co 737 NG aircraft around the world may have to be urgently inspected in coming days after the discovery of cracks in a part of the plane that holds the wings to the fuselage.
The cracks were discovered in three 737-800s being converted from passenger planes to cargo aircraft, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a notice to international operators viewed by Bloomberg. Each of the planes had been used for more than 35,000 flights, the FAA notice said.
Boeing has determined that its existing inspection routines for the planes aren’t adequate to find the cracking, so the company is developing new routines to ensure the issue doesn’t threaten flight safety, according to the notice. The company is also working on repair instructions and producing spare parts.
“Boeing has notified the FAA and been in contact with 737 NG operators about a cracking issue discovered on a small number of airplanes undergoing modifications,” the company said. “No in-service issues have been reported.”
The cracking is considered an urgent issue and, under the expected FAA order, older planes will have to be inspected within a week, said a person who wasn’t authorised to discuss the matter and asked not to be named. The agency directive is due to be issued within days.
The 737 NG, or Next Generation, aircraft include the 737-600, 737-700, 737-800 and 737-900.
The plane’s latest version, known as the 737 Max, isn’t affected.
The more efficient Max aircraft are grounded worldwide following a pair of fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Some airlines have already begun performing inspections.The part, known as a pickle fork because of its resemblance to the kitchen utensil, is part of the assembly that is used to attach the plane’s wings.