The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has adopted a new aircraft certification policy that now requires any key detail changes to flight control designs to be classified as "significant" following two separate major crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX. The federal agency also provided additional guidance to aircraft manufacturers on how to identify "safety-critical information" in certification applications.
It is understood that this supervision standard to strengthen aircraft certification was implemented after the fatal crashes of two Boeing (BA) 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 (Indonesia) and 2019 (Ethiopia). The two aircraft were related to the MCAS safety system, the details of which were not disclosed to the FAA.
It is understood that the accident caused a total of 346 deaths, and Boeing's total compensation, fines and production improvement costs exceeded 20 billion US dollars. The company was also forced to ground its 737 MAX aircraft for 20 months.
A report from the U.S. House of Representatives stated: "The FAA has failed in its oversight of Boeing (BA) and certification of aircraft." Lawmakers passed legislation in 2020 to reform some of the FAA's official certification processes.
Boeing recently announced third-quarter results that fell short of market expectations. Q3 revenue was US$18.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%, but US$200 million lower than market expectations. Boeing recently lowered its annual delivery target for the 737 passenger jet, saying it is currently working to resolve some major quality issues with its best-selling model.
Boeing has been trying to speed up deliveries since last year to speed up its recovery from the twin crises of safety and the epidemic, but despite strong demand for the jets, it has faced two consecutive years of delivery disruptions due to supply and labor shortages across the industry. Data show that the company's order backlog totals $469 billion, including more than 5,100 commercial aircraft.