Boeing not forecasting timetable for 737 MAX 10 approval

Boeing Wednesday said it was making progress with regulators on its 737 MAX 10 aircraft but declined to offer a clear timeline on when it expects to win approval, in a tougher regulatory climate. Boeing has a December deadline to win approval for the 737 MAX 10 - the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family. Otherwise, it must meet new cockpit alerting requirements under a 2020 law, unless Congress waives it. The deadline for changes was introduced as part of broader regulatory reforms at the FAA after fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. "We really need to complete a good proportion of the development assurance work," Mike Fleming, a senior VP at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters on a second day of briefings ahead of Britain's Farnborough Airshow next month. "It's taking longer to get approval of our documents than it has in the past." Both the FAA and Boeing are working through a process that is different from what Boeing has done in the past, making it a challenge, said Fleming. The regulators control the timeframe and it is incumbent on Boeing to deliver on the certification plan, he said. As an example, Fleming said the FAA has taken ownership of certifying Boeing safety assessments that deal with how pilots interact with systems known as "human factors." Previously, that work was delegated to Boeing's engineers.<br/>