As regulators prepare to weigh in on 737 MAX, FAA's global dominance fades

Global regulators have held off approving the Boeing 737 MAX despite a decision by the US FAA to end a 20-month grounding, highlighting changes in the global regulatory pecking order caused by two crashes of the jet. In March 2019, when the second MAX crash in five months brought the death toll on the recently introduced Boeing Co model to 346 people, China quickly grounded the airliner, sparking a cascade of flight bans around the world. The announcements from East to West highlighted China’s growing clout in aerospace and global affairs. Now, however, the ungrounding process is expected to take days, weeks or longer as foreign regulators check the FAA’s homework and impose their own conditions for a return to service. In the past, regulators promptly followed the guidance of the FAA, credited for decades with pioneering aviation safety. But many are now wary of seeming to toe the FAA line after the US agency was faulted for lax oversight. Canada and Brazil, two aircraft-producing nations with heft in the industry, are expected to back the FAA’s decision within weeks. But both said on Wednesday they weren’t yet ready to decide. “I think it’s causing the countries to be a little bit more critical of the type-certificate validation process,” said Mike Daniel, a former FAA certification expert and accident investigator based in Singapore. “Hopefully they’re a little bit more critical of what their air operators are required to do with regard to training.”<br/>