Boeing to keep pushing Congress to extend 737 MAX 10 deadline

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CE Stan Deal Tuesday said the US planemaker will continue to push Congress to pass legislation for the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 to win certification even if a key Dec. 27 deadline passes. "We're still working obviously and hope something happens this year - got another shot early next," Deal said on the sidelines of an event at its 787 final assembly plant. "We're going to hope Congress does their part of this." United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby, whose airline has ordered more than 100 MAX 10s, told reporters on Tuesday that he did not think lawmakers would act on the extension until next year. After Dec. 27, all planes must have modern cockpit alerting systems to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could jeopardize the futures of the MAX 7 and 10 or mean significant delays for the new aircrafts’ deployment -- unless Congress passes legislation. The alerting requirement does not apply to in-service airplanes previously certified by the FAA. Kirby said it is the right safety answer to have a common alerting system across the 737 family -- including the MAX 8 and MAX 9s in service. He said United MAX 10 orders "are already delayed but we're assuming it get approved sometime next year." Congress adopted the requirements after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people and led to the bestselling plane's 20-month grounding. Last month, acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said he believed the FAA cannot continue any certification work on the airplanes after Dec. 27 without congressional action.<br/>