FAA Officials Have Not Been Able To Certify The Boeing 737 MAX 7 Modern Cockpit Warning System

Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft. (photo: twitter @boeingairplanes)

JAKARTA - Acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday 17 November that he did not expect the agency to certify the Boeing 737 MAX 7 before the deadline at the end of the year.

FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said "not visible" the 737 MAX 7 would be certified by the end of the year.

Boeing is seeking a letter of waiver from Congress on the December deadline for imposing new safety standards for modern cockpit warnings for 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 10. Nolen said he said the FAA could not continue certification work on the plane after the end of December without action from Congress.

Nolen's comments could put pressure on Congress to act in the coming week on two MAX variants. Boeing did not immediately comment.

Boeing's Chief Executive, Dave Calhoun, said last month he was confident the aircraft maker would get an extension from the US Congress from the deadline for the MAX 7 and MAX 10 certifications.

After December 27, all aircraft must have a modern cockpit warning system to be certified by the FAA, meaning a significant delay for the deployment of new MAX aircraft unless Congress provides a waiver to extend the deadline.

Boeing said last month that it expects the 737 MAX 7 to be certified this year or in 2023 and the MAX 10 will begin testing FAA certification flights in 2022 or 2023 and enter service in 2023 or 2024.

Earlier this month, Republican Senator Roger Wicker failed to attach an extension of the MAX deadline until September 2024 to the defense bill. The effort was backed by the Chamber of Commerce this week.

The requirement was adopted by Congress as part of a certified reform ratified after two fatal 737 MAX accidents that killed 346 people and caused the best-selling aircraft grounding for 20 months. One of them is in Indonesia.