China warming to Boeing 737 MAX return with aviation officials open to test flights
- China’s aviation regulators in March said they had ‘major concerns’ about the plane, including design changes, new pilot training and the causes of two crashes
- The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the grounding in November, and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Transport Canada soon followed
Chinese aviation officials have signalled they are open to conducting flight tests on Boeing 737 MAX, a step toward lifting the plane’s grounding in that nation after more than two years, according to people familiar with the matter.
Details of a validation flight for the Max in China are still being worked out, but the discussions are a sign of possible progress in what has become a lengthy stand-off over the plane, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Boeing is preparing to send a delegation of around 35 pilots and engineers to meet with regulators in late July after they undergo weeks of quarantine, one of the people said.
It’s nothing to do with aviation, safety or aviation safety. It’s way above our pay grades, way above our heads. It’s geopolitics
But they have said little about why they are taking so much longer to assess the redesign and clear the plane than regulators in the United States, Europe and Canada. Their lengthy review has fanned speculation that politics is a factor now that the plane has been cleared by more than 170 countries.
“It’s nothing to do with aviation, safety or aviation safety,” Richard Aboulafia, a long-time watcher of the aerospace industry at the Teal Group, said in a recent interview. “It’s way above our pay grades, way above our heads. It’s geopolitics.”
Boeing shares quickly turned positive on the news, closing at US$236.77 on Thursday, a 2.15 per cent increase on the day. The shares remain below their peak of US$446.01 at the start of March – soon before the Max crash in Ethiopia triggered the worldwide grounding.
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Another person familiar with the discussions said China authorities are in talks about performing Max simulator sessions, but declined to say what the prospects are for an actual flight.
Both simulator runs and flight tests preceded the decision to lift the ban in the US and Europe, but some nations have not required them before allowing the plane to resume normal operations.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the agency had no update to provide on progress toward the Max’s return to service in the country.
Boeing did not address China specifically when asked about the potential for a test flight, saying only that it was working with aviation regulators around the world.
“We refer you to those regulators for more information,” the company said in an emailed statement.
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China was the first nation to ground the Max, acting within hours of a fatal crash in Ethiopia in March 2019, and has not allowed the single-aisle workhorse to fly since, crimping jet sales in Boeing’s largest overseas market.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the grounding in November, and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Transport Canada followed in January.
Under aviation treaty agreements, the FAA took the lead role in recertifying the Max, working closely with the handful of nations that have existing airliner manufacturing sectors. As has occurred with other nations, China has the option of validating the FAA’s work under the treaty.
The FAA has provided China with technical briefings about the work, according to the people.
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Typically, one of the final steps before a certification is a test flight. Pilots for the FAA, EASA Agency and Transport Canada all conducted such flights soon before lifting their flight bans.
Boeing has previously sent delegations to China since the grounding and there is no guarantee the recent talks will result in the flying ban being lifted.
The system has since been redesigned to prevent it from activating repeatedly and to add redundancy so that it is less likely to malfunction, among other changes.
It’s going to create real issues for us in the next couple of years if we can’t thaw out some of the trade structure.
If the company is not allowed to serve the China market, it will “cede global leadership,” Calhoun said last month.
“I’ll never give up on that. But it’s going to create real issues for us in the next couple of years if we can’t thaw out some of the trade structure.”
