U.S. Airlines Still Have Lots to Do to Put the 737 Max in the Air After FAA Approval

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the Boeing 737 Max to fly again, ending a 20-month grounding in the wake of two fatal accidents, but Boeing's best-selling aircraft will be limited to the U.S. for now. In a break with the past, regulators around the world are waiting to review the FAA's decision before re-certifying the aircraft in their countries. The process is unfolding in reverse of how it did in the spring of 2019, when regulators outside of the U.S. began grounding the 737 Max, leaving the FAA the lone holdout for several days, until March 13, 2019, when it finally grounded the aircraft. Usually, regulators follow the lead of the regulatory agency where the aircraft is manufactured, so FAA for Boeing aircraft and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for Airbus aircraft. But nothing about the 737 Max grounding has been normal, starting with the way it unfolded to the duration of the grounding, the longest in commercial aviation's history. Regulators around the world grounded the aircraft after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines accident in 2019, which together killed 346 people. Both accidents were caused by flight-control software the Boeing has spent the last two years modifying. FAA started recertification flights earlier this year, and Administrator Steven Dickson said he was satisfied with the modifications Boeing made. "I would put my own family on it," he told CNBC in an interview Thursday. FAA's approval is contingent on airlines retraining pilots on the new flight-control procedures and conducting maintenance on stored aircraft, a process that could take weeks. When that process is complete, FAA said the aircraft is permitted to fly and all future 737 Max models that are yet to be delivered also ar