Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are parked on the tarmac after being grounded, at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California on March 28, 2019.
Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images
The Boeing 737 Max won’t return to service at Southwest Airlines until February at the earliest, the union that represents the airline’s pilots said Monday.
That would be a month later than the low-cost carrier currently expects.
Boeing is scrambling to finish software changes and put them in front of government regulators for review to get the manufacturer’s best-selling plane flying again. Two fatal crashes within five months of one another killed 346 people and prompted a worldwide grounding, now in its eighth month.
Boeing has estimated it would receive this approval in the fourth quarter, but regulators say they don’t have a firm timeline.
The approval process has been delayed several times as Boeing seeks to address additional concerns from regulators. “We still anticipate submitting that certification package to the FAA in the September time frame,” Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in August.
Boeing’s board last week replaced Muilenburg as chairman so the CEO could focus on the 737 Max grounding, which has dragged on longer than many airlines anticipated.
“The FAA is following a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the Boeing 737 Max to passenger service,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA will lift the aircraft’s prohibition order when it is deemed safe to do so. The FAA is continuing to evaluate Boeing’s software modification and is still developing necessary training requirements.”
A number of steps including simulator testing and a certification flight and training, updates to training and operating standards as well as training for the pilots, which could take 30 days, are yet to be completed, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Jon Weaks said in a letter to members.
Southwest expects the planes to return to its schedules on Jan. 5. Last week, United and American joined Southwest in canceling 737 Max flights into January, about a month later than previously expected.
Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some tasks may occur concurrently and save time but Swapa, as the union is known, “feels that these timelines are the best-case estimates and remain fluid.”
“As of today, we are looking at probably a February timeframe to say the least,” said the letter.
Boeing said its estimate that it will gain regulator approval for the planes to return will occur in the fourth quarter of this year.
Swapa earlier this month sued Boeing in a state court in Dallas, saying the manufacturer rushed the plane to market and that its member pilots have lost out on about $100 million in income. Boeing said the lawsuit was “meritless and will vigorously defend against it.”