US lawmakers decline to add Boeing 737 MAX exemption in defense bill

US lawmakers late on Tuesday declined to add an extension to an annual defense bill of a looming deadline that would impose a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for two new versions of Boeing’s best-selling 737 MAX aircraft. The US planemaker has been lobbying for months to convince lawmakers to waive the deadline that affects its MAX 7 and MAX 10 airplanes and was imposed by Congress in 2020 after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. There is a slim chance the defense bill could be changed before final passage and Boeing is still attempting to convince lawmakers to attach the proposal to a bill that could be considered to fund US government operations but sources briefed on the matter say the issue may slip into 2023. That would be a significant setback for Boeing, which did not immediately comment but has argued previously it is better to have a common alerting system for all versions of the 737 MAX. The requirements for modern cockpit alerts were adopted by Congress as part of certification reform passed after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that led to the plane’s 20-month grounding. After Dec. 27, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems to be certified by the FAA, which could jeopardize the MAX 7 and 10 future or mean significant delays for the new aircraft’s deployment. Boeing has won about 1,000 orders for the MAX 7 and MAX 10 and previously warned that without an extension of the deadline it could be forced to cancel the two versions.<br/>
Reuters
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/07/us-lawmakers-decline-to-add-boeing-737-max-exemption-in-defense-bill.html?&qsearchterm=airlines
12/7/22