A new lawsuit says Boeing's design of the 737 Max was faulty and the company was able to rush the plane into production because it faced little oversight from regulators. The lawsuit says the plane could crash if a single part malfunctioned, that Boeing concealed problems and refused to ground the plane on its own. Lawyers say Boeing did the same thing after crashes of earlier 737s in the 1990s. Former Transportation Department inspector general Mary Schiavo filed the lawsuit last week in federal district court in South Carolina on behalf of relatives of a Swedish man killed on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March. Boeing is also being sued over the October crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia. Boeing declined to comment on specifics of the lawsuit. <br/>
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Airbus executives Tuesday backed the process of upgrading older-model planes to offer airlines efficiency improvements in favour of always pursuing brand-new designs after 2 Boeing 737 MAX crashes raised questions about whether legacy planes can evolve safely. The MAX has drawn fire from some lawmakers in the US and elsewhere for having its roots in a 1960s plane design that has been repeatedly updated. Safety approval since the start has largely focused only on the features that have changed incrementally. But Airbus plays down the idea that the latest version of its competitor’s planes was flawed because it was another upgrade. Airbus has made upgrading existing planes a core part of its product strategy too, and is working on upgrading its A321LR, itself an upgrade of an earlier version. <br/>
Brazil’s lower house of Congress voted Tuesday to allow foreign-controlled airlines to operate domestic flights in Latin America’s largest economy, opening the door to more competition in an increasingly concentrated market. The chamber approved the original text of a decree issued by former president Michel Temer in December that removed the 20% limit on foreign ownership of Brazilian airlines. However, debates continued into the night, with voting scheduled to tweak the final language of the bill that will be sent to the Senate. The upper chamber is expected to pass the measure, which would then go into effect immediately. The removal of the restriction could lure a foreign carrier eager to jumpstart its presence in the domestic market, or open the door for foreign airlines to dramatically increase their existing stakes in the big-3 Brazilian carriers. <br/>
Indonesia regulators might extend the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX until 2020 as it makes its own deliberations over the certification of the aircraft and pilots. Indonesia civil aviation authority DG Polana Pramesti, said that there were “a lot of issues” to address it was uncertain whether the aircraft would be allowed to fly in Indonesia this year. Pramesti said there would be more stringent certification and simulator training requirements for MAX pilots, including conversions from other 737 types. She added that Boeing must provide reassurances and restore confidence in the aircraft. Pramesti might join a May 23 meeting in Texas planned by FAA for some 50 other international regulators and stakeholders to discuss the MAX software update program and related pilot training. <br/>