By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s nominee to go the U.S. Transportation Division mentioned he’ll preserve in place a cap on manufacturing of Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX planes put in place after a mid-air panel blowout final yr till he’s glad it may be safely raised.
“The cap can be maintained and can be lifted after I, in session with the profession security specialists at FAA and the Administrator, trust {that a} manufacturing improve won’t scale back the standard of the plane being produced,” mentioned former Consultant Sean Duffy in written feedback submitted to the Senate Commerce Committee.
In January 2024, then Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker imposed the 38 planes monthly manufacturing cap after a door panel lacking 4 key bolts flew off a brand new Alaska Airways 737 MAX 9.
Duffy, whose nomination was authorised by the committee on Wednesday on a 28-0 vote, mentioned final week that Boeing wanted “powerful love” to get again on monitor.
In his written responses to questions from senators on Wednesday, Duffy mentioned he deliberate to fulfill with Boeing’s management on the “earliest possible second” so he may “clarify that the Division and the FAA will proceed to carry them accountable to the motion plan they developed, and which was accepted by the division.”
Duffy added that he “can even be instructing FAA management to observe the adequacy of the motion plan.”
In Might 2022, the FAA authorised a three-year renewal of Boeing’s Group Designation Authorization (ODA) program that delegates some plane certification duties to the planemaker quite than the 5 years Boeing had requested. The approval will expire in a number of months.
Duffy mentioned he’ll work with the FAA Administrator and profession security specialists “on the long run parameters of Boeing’s ODA.” The association got here below scrutiny after two lethal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 linked to one of many plane’s methods.
Boeing declined to remark.
Whitaker stepped down as FAA administrator on Monday, when Trump took workplace, and the brand new administration has not nominated a successor or mentioned who will run the company on an appearing foundation.
