Boeing Shares Rise on 737 MAX Optimism -- Update
17 October 2020 - 8:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Grossman and Benjamin Katz
Shares of Boeing Co. rose Friday as comments from the top
European aviation-safety official reinforced investors' sentiment
that the company's troubled 737 MAX jetliner was on track to return
to service in coming months.
Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation
Safety Agency, said in an interview with Bloomberg that he thinks
proposed changes sufficiently address problems with a faulty
flight-control system implicated in two fatal MAX crashes.
"Our analysis is showing that this is safe, and the level of
safety reached is high enough for us," Mr. Ky said. A spokeswoman
for the EASA, as the European safety agency is known, confirmed the
remarks he made to Bloomberg.
Boeing shares, which had risen more than 5% during trading
Friday morning, closed at $167.35, up 1.9% on the day. The stock
has fallen 49% in 2020.
The 737 MAX, the latest iteration of Boeing's long-running
series of narrow-body airliners, was grounded by regulators
world-wide more than a year and a half ago after it was involved in
the dual tragedies a few months apart.
U.S. regulators, who are taking the lead vetting hardware,
software and pilot-training changes for the fleet, are moving to
formally lift the grounding in coming weeks. Mr. Ky's comments are
in line with that general timeline, projecting a European decision
perhaps weeks later and gradual resumption of widespread MAX
commercial operations early next year.
A total of 346 people died in the two accidents: an October 2018
crash of a jet operated by Lion Air, and a March 2019 crash of a
plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
Last month, Steve Dickson, the head of the U.S.'s Federal
Aviation Administration, gave Boeing's changes to the jet a
tentative endorsement after test-flying it along with Boeing and
FAA pilots.
"We still have some work to do yet" to respond to public
comments and finalize revisions, Mr. Dickson said after the
flight.
Scrutiny of the MAX has focused on an automated flight-control
system that malfunctioned due to erroneous sensor inputs and
overwhelmed pilots' inputs before the fatal crashes.
The EASA spokeswoman said a directive allowing the MAX's return
to service could follow a public comment period likely to begin
next month.
Boeing's push to bring the jets back to airline service this
year played out against a devastating period for the global
aviation industry as passenger travel evaporated during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com and Benjamin
Katz at ben.katz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 16, 2020 17:28 ET (21:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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