Boeing finally resolved, Monday, December 16, to suspend for two months the production of its medium-haul 737 Max, grounded since mid-March after two crashes that claimed the lives of 346 passengers and crew members . This decision will take effect in January 2020.
Meeting for two days in Chicago, at the manufacturer’s headquarters, Boeing executives preferred to shutdown the Max’s assembly lines rather than cut production again. Since April, Boeing has produced only forty-two copies of the Max each month against fifty-two at cruising speed. The shutdown of medium-haul production did not surprise the aeronautical industry. "Boeing could no longer continue to produce planes to stack them on parking lots", comments the boss of a top supplier of the Max. According to him, the decision of the American aircraft manufacturer is even too late. "They should have lowered the production rate more sharply from September", he adds.
After more than nine months of immobilization, nearly 500 Max are crowded into the parking lots around the Boeing factories. Without counting the 300 already delivered to companies. "We believe that this decision least disturbs the maintenance of the long-term production system and the health of the supply chain", Boeing said on Monday.
Examine the device
On examination, the two-month halt in production of the Max is very bad news for the American aircraft manufacturer. It means that Boeing's management is no longer counting on a rapid return in flight for its medium-haul. Since March, the American manufacturer has however always wanted optimism. In June, at the Paris Air Show, he spread the word to his major suppliers that the Max could resume commercial flights in the summer. At the start of the school year, the aircraft manufacturer crossed its fingers for a resumption of flights in the fourth quarter.
The suspension of production is a direct result of the distrust of aviation regulators towards Boeing. The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), criticized for being too close to Boeing, is no longer willing to let critics take it. Steve Dickson, the agency's new boss, had left Boeing with little hope. In a letter to elected members of Congress on December 13, he "Fears that Boeing will continue to pursue an unrealistic return to service schedule". Above all, Mr. Dickson had judged "Even more worrying" the fact that "Some of the public positions (from the aircraft manufacturer) could give the impression of wanting to force the FAA to act faster " to authorize this aircraft to resume its flights.
