Boeing said on Wednesday it was making progress on developing a permanent solution to address an issue with the 737 MAX engine anti-ice system that has delayed certification of the smallest model, the MAX 7 and the largest, the MAX 10. The issue with the anti-ice system could lead to it overheating and potentially causing an engine failure. A source told Reuters that Boeing plans to conduct flight testing on the anti-ice fix later this year and said certification of the MAX 7 could slip to mid-2025. Boeing CFO Brian West said in January the anti-ice fix could be addressed "within a year." Boeing has 35 MAX 7 and MAX 10 planes in inventory. Boeing, under scrutiny over its safety record after the mid-air blowout of a cabin panel on a MAX 9, in January withdrew a request it filed with the Federal Aviation Administration last year seeking an exemption from a safety standard for the MAX 7 over the issue, which pushed potential certification into 2025. The Air Current, an aviation trade publication, reported earlier on Wednesday that the fix Boeing has settled on will result in delaying certification of the MAX 7 and 10 deep into 2025 at the earliest. The FAA, which has repeatedly declined to put any timetable on approval, said on Wednesday it "will thoroughly review any design Boeing submits." Senator Tammy Duckworth in January had urged Boeing to abandon the exemption request, saying the issue could "cause the engine nacelle to break apart and fall off. This could generate fuselage-penetrating debris, which could endanger passengers in window seats behind the wing."<br/>
general
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration is set to meet on Thursday with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and other senior company officials on the company's quality improvement plans, sources told Reuters. In late February, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address "systemic quality-control issues" and barred it from expanding 737 MAX production after a door panel blowout during a Jan. 5 flight on a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9. The meeting is currently expected to last three hours at FAA headquarters in Washington but could go longer. It also set to include other senior Boeing leaders including Stephanie Pope, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes as well as Boeing's head of quality Elizabeth Lund and Mike Fleming, Boeing senior vice president and general manager, airplane programs. Calhoun said May 17 the company would soon meet with the FAA on the plan. "We anticipate the FAA will take whatever time is necessary to review that plan and hold us accountable to the various control parameters that are put in place as we move forward," Calhoun said. "This is more of a beginning than it is an end." The FAA and Boeing did not immediately comment. Whitaker said last week Boeing faces a "long road" to address safety issues adding the 90-day plan "is not the end of the process. It's the beginning and it's going to be a long road to get Boeing back to where they need to be making safe airplanes."<br/>
Boeing and a union representing about 125 of its firefighters said Wednesday they had reached a tentative contract deal, the planemaker and union said in a joint statement. Boeing in early May locked out members of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local I-66 after they rejected two contract offers - a move that drew the concern of President Joe Biden. Boeing and IAFF Local I-66 said they expected results of a vote Thursday on the deal “that would end the lockout and months of negotiations. This tentative agreement addresses the needs of our firefighters and the company.” If the deal is approved, firefighters are expected to return to work Saturday. At a May 14 rally outside Boeing headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, IAFF President Edward Kelly, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Representative Val Hoyle urged Boeing to make a deal. Last week, House lawmakers from Washington State urged both sides, “to negotiate in good faith toward an agreement.” Boeing and the union did not immediately disclose details of the agreement. Boeing said in early May it had offered to increase firefighters’ average take-home pay from $91,000 to $112,000 in the first year. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is separately negotiating a new contract on behalf of over 30,000 workers who build Boeing’s 737 MAX jets. Boeing 737 MAX production has fallen sharply as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) steps up factory checks following a panel blowout on a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in January, blamed on an assembly error. Boeing is set to meet with the FAA on Thursday on its 90-day plan to boost quality.<br/>
A Swiss startup is betting on an emerging technology to make synthetic jet fuel that it says will one day lower the cost of using cleaner fuels. Metafuels AG, whose backers include Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures, says methanol-to-jet tech offers higher emissions savings than alternative sustainable aviation fuels, reducing the volume of SAF that an airline will have to buy to meet green targets set by regulators. Climate goals mean European airlines will need to slowly start cutting their consumption of jet fuel made from crude oil from 2025. Metafuels hopes that methanol-to-jet technology will be accredited by early next year, when a demonstration plant it’s building in Switzerland is due to start operating. A larger plant in Denmark announced last week with a partner is a longer-term plan. “Methanol-to-jet is a promising option, not least as it is compatible with existing infrastructure, so can be quickly integrated,” said Elena Scaltritti, CCO at Danish engineering company Topsoe. Still, such technologies will need to be “coupled with a significant build-out of renewable power capacity” to be able to make the e-SAF, she said. SAF currently costs several times more than conventional jet fuel derived from oil. On a recent earnings call, Lufthansa’s CEO cited the cleaner type of airplane fuel among cost headwinds it’s facing from next year.<br/>
China aims to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of key industries by an amount equivalent to about 1% of the 2023 national total through efficiency gains in everything from steel production to transportation, according to a government plan released on Wednesday. China, the world's top energy consumer and largest greenhouse gas emitter, also set a target for making economic growth more energy efficient, a step in line with President Xi Jinping's push for "new productive forces." The government action plan said China's economy would require 2.5% less energy for every unit of GDP growth in 2024. It proposed to hit that goal by pushing for specific changes in industries, including building materials and petrochemicals. China missed its energy intensity goal last year, and its desire to cut emissions and energy consumption is often at odds with the need to boost economic growth and living standards. Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute, said it was possible China's CO2 emissions could have peaked in 2023, reflecting stalled growth in oil demand and expanding wind and solar and wind generation. China's official target remains for CO2 emissions to peak before 2030. The plan repeated a target for non-fossil energy sources to make up about 20% of China's total energy use in 2025, up from this year's target of around 18.9%. The plan said China would "strictly" control coal consumption, "reasonably" control petroleum consumption and promote use of biofuel and sustainable aviation fuel.<br/>