Boeing (BOE, Washington National) is regaining authority from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform final safety checks and issue airworthiness certificates on some B737 MAX and B787 jets on alternating weeks starting September 29, according to the regulator.
“This decision follows a thorough review of Boeing’s ongoing production quality and will allow our inspectors to focus additional surveillance on the production process. The FAA will continue to maintain direct and rigorous oversight of Boeing's production processes,” it said in a statement, adding that it decided to take this step forward because it felt confident Boeing could do it safely.
Resuming limited delegation to Boeing, via the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) programme, will enable FAA inspectors to focus on other tasks, for example observing critical assembly stages, examining trends, ensuring Boeing mechanics are performing work to approved type design and engineering requirements, and more.
The FAA tightened oversight of Boeing in 2019 after two B737-8 crashes. It began requiring each new jet to be checked only by agency inspectors after becoming concerned about pressure on Boeing employees to produce and deliver aircraft at accelerated rates. It later revoked the same authority for the B787 line, which is made in South Carolina (the MAX is rolled out at Renton).
The regulator has imposed other precautionary measures throughout the years, such as a production cap for the MAX family, which is currently set at 38 aircraft per month, but talks are ongoing for a potential increase to 42 aircraft per month.
