The Boeing 737 Max series of narrow-body planes were developed by the American aerospace major to take on its European competition Airbus's 320 Neo and Ceo series of jets, which claimed to have reduced fuel burn by upto 6 per cent. Boeing lost the status of being the only supplier to American Airlines, as the long time client signed two deals to procure the Neo fleet from Airbus. In response, Boeing said it wants to make a new aircraft.
After nearly three years and $5.5 billion spent on research and development, the re-engined 737 Max came up as a result. The 737 Max claims to have reduced fuel burn by upto 14 per cent after a new airframe and better engines were put to use. The aircraft had the longest waiting list when launched a few years back at the Paris Air Show and has an order list of more than 3,100 planes from various airlines. Some 350 of these planes are already in service world-wide.
In India, SpiceJet has the maximum number of Boeing 737 Max and operates about 13 aircrafts of the Max 8 variant, the same variant operated by Ethiopian Airlines which crashed on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the company issued a statement saying that it is not grounding any of the planes just yet. "The Boeing 737 Max is a highly sophisticated aircraft. It has flown hundreds of hours globally and some of the world's largest airlines are flying this aircraft," the company said in a statement.
Earlier in 2018, a Lion Air flight in Indonesia also crashed into the sea within minutes of its take-off. The reason behind the accident that claimed about 189 lives, is still under investigation. However, Boeing issued statement asking pilot's to not take sudden dives.
The Lion Air flight like the Ethiopian Airlines flight lost flight control and other computers during a flight maneuver resulting in crash and loss of 157 lives. In response to the crash, Boeing 737 Max 8 flight operations were suspended by Singapore, Malaysia, China and South Korea.
Australia barred all 737 MAX planes from entering its airspace. US civil aviation authorities FAA have ordered Boeing to improve anti-stalling measures in its software and the plane's maneuvering system after the incident.
In a statement issued by the company on Tuesday, Boeing said that it was developing an updated flight control system and was about to roll out the new update and subsequent training manual.
"For the past several months and in the aftermath of Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing has been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer. This includes updates to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training," the Boeing statement said.
Boeing said that it was working closely with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) on development planning and certification of the software update. The company said that the update will now be deployed across all 737 MAX fleet in the coming weeks.
The FAA had mandated Boeing to complete this software enhancement with an Airworthiness Directive, no later than April this year.
India's civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said it had introduced additional "interim" safety requirements for ground engineers and crew for the 737 MAX aircraft but did not order grounding of these planes just yet.
"The planes being used here have not reported any malfunctions and are operating smoothly. This does not give us any reason to ground them yet. If there are any FAA directive to this extent then we will certainly reconsider," said B.S. Bhullar, DGCA.
SpiceJet said it had implemented additional "precautionary measures" and had "actively engaged" with Boeing and the DGCA to resolve the 737 MAX crisis from impacting flight operations across Indian skies.
Boeing have recently delivered about five 737 MAX 8 to Jet Airways. However, owing to financial dues, the airline had grounded all five, a company spokesperson said.
According to Boeing India, deliveries of new planes to India will be halted for now. "Till the updates are rolled out and all FAA clearances are in place, no new deliveries would be made in India," said Ashmita Sethi, director, Boeing India.
