Boeing recovery sidetracked by regulatory tussles on big jets

Boeing's steady climb out of successive crises - among the worst in US corporate history - gained momentum last week when it won the 2021 jet order race against rival Airbus on an adjusted basis with a 737 MAX sales blitz. But closely watched orders and deliveries have underscored the industrial and regulatory currents still facing its bigger 787 Dreamliner and 777X flagships - issues that have left Boeing fighting concurrent battles on both sides of the Atlantic. Regulators in Europe are challenging the safety net built in to 777X flight controls and deliveries of the 787 are expected to remain frozen until around April as U.S. regulators review production flaws, senior industry and government sources said. The pressure surrounding two of the world's largest passenger jets highlights the immediate challenge to Boeing in the aftermath of fatal MAX crashes and the pandemic, though the rest of the industry is also bracing for a regulatory crackdown. "There is such nervousness among the regulators who make these decisions, who sign off on these things, that they are missing something," one senior air safety expert said. "The reason for that is the aftermath of the MAX crisis. What you now have is engineers looking at things differently than they ever had before," he said. Initially designed and overseen by the same generation of engineers and U.S. regulators who oversaw the MAX, the upgrade to the large 777 has captured the attention of an increasingly assertive EASA. EASA and Boeing are locked in a deeper than usual debate over engineering that will determine whether extra safeguards are needed for the jet's flight control system, the people said.<br/>