American Airlines is prepared to further delay returning the Boeing 737 Max to its schedule as regulators review the manufacturer’s safety updates before they allow the planes to fly again, a process that depends on political factors, the airline’s CE, Doug Parker, told employees. “There is an absolute software fix that’s this close to being certified, but they’ve been saying that for a while,” Parker told employees in a town hall meeting last week. “I think as much as anything now it may be politics as much as the true certification ... safety issue. I don’t think the FAA wants to be alone in doing this.” Even after officials approve the plane for service American will need about 30 to 45 days to provide its more than 4,000 Boeing 737 pilots with the additional required training. <br/>
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The union for American Airlines pilots is redoubling its push for time in a Boeing 737 Max simulator, saying aviators should be given access before the grounded plane returns to service. Dan Carey, a veteran American pilot and head of the Allied Pilots Association, appealed to Boeing CE Dennis Muilenburg a day after testifying before a Congressional subcommittee looking into 2 deadly crashes of the model. The APA has said that an earlier request for simulator time, which union officials made to Boeing through American, was rejected. “Our participation in every aspect of returning the 737 Max to service and restoring public trust in the airplane is absolutely critical,” Carey said in a letter Thursday to Muilenburg. Carey, who is stepping down next month, asked for access to a full-motion Max simulator as soon as possible. <br/>
Boeing may have to rebrand the 737 MAX in the light of its 2 fatal crashes and possible passenger resistance to flying on the type when it is restored to commercial service, Qatar Airways Group CE Akbar Al Baker believes. Al Baker said he had full confidence Boeing would find a fix for the system believed to be a factor in the crashes and that regulators would certify the aircraft again, but passengers could be reluctant to fly the MAX. Boeing is finalising changes to the model’s MCAS flight-control law software. Qatar Airways has a leasing company that ordered 20 MAX 8s; at the time of the global grounding of the MAX fleet in mid-March, 3 of those had been delivered and placed with Air Italy. “I think Boeing will have to come up with something to re-name this airplane,” Al Baker said. <br/>