Regulator ended weekly rotation after months of joint inspections
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that Boeing will be allowed to take responsibility for certifying all of its 737 Max and 787 planes starting next week, after the agency determined the company’s final safety checks are adequate to ensure aircraft are airworthy.
Since September, Boeing and the FAA had been operating under a rotating system in which the two organizations took weekly turns performing the required safety checks that must be completed before aircraft are cleared for delivery and declared safe to fly. The FAA said Friday that both company and government inspectors had been reaching similar conclusions during that period, laying the groundwork for restoring Boeing’s certification authority.
“Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.
Federal regulators assumed full control over 737 Max certifications in 2019, after the second of two crashes that were later blamed on a new software system Boeing developed for the aircraft. The FAA ended the company’s right to self-certify 787 Dreamliners in 2022, citing ongoing production quality issues.
Friday’s decision restores Boeing’s role in performing the final airworthiness sign-offs for both aircraft lines. The airworthiness certificate confirms an aircraft is safe to operate.