Boeing says the software update for 737 MAX is ready

Boeing officials announced the software update for 737 MAX planes has been completed and the company is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to certify the fleet once again.

According to Reuters.com, Boeing has submitted a pilot training plan to the FAA and is looking to schedule a certification test flight, which would clear the 737 MAX planes for flight after they were grounded in March following two fatal crashes.

The FAA will now host a meeting on May 24 in Fort Worth, Texas, with regulators from around the world to update them on the 737 MAX software update and pilot training. Each nation must independently approve the Boeing plane before it is cleared once again for flights.

It appears that it’s far too early for the US Federal Aviation Administration to disclose a date for when the 737 MAX will return to service. On 24 May, a marathon eight-hour meeting was held at Fort Worth with Boeing and aviation regulators from more than 30 countries. After that meeting, the acting FAA administrator, Dan Elwell, told aviation media:

“I’m not going down the timetable route. The only timetable we have is the analysis that says the MAX is good to fly and safe to fly. It is the one thing that we can’t be nailed down to. Because the last thing I want is to put a date out there and have everybody, either the FAA, or you, or the public, steer to that date instead of the end result of the process.”

For airlines, the safety of their passengers is uppermost, but this lack of clarification by the FAA leaves many in limbo in terms of when they can return to their pre-grounding alert operating schedules. When can they return leased aircraft and get things back to normal? Ask any airline this question and you get varying dates as to when they expect to have their MAXs back in regular service.

While American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have removed the planes from service through August 19 and August 5, respectively, airline industry officials are hoping the 737 MAX fleet will be permitted to fly again this summer.

f the grounded planes are approved before the August dates, the 737 MAX will be used as spare jets. The FAA also said Thursday that Boeing had not yet submitted its final software package for approval.