Boeing Expects 737 Max Approval Before Year-End

Boeing announced that it expects to receive U.S. regulatory approval for the 737 MAX before the end of the year.

The planemaker also announced plans to cut production of the Dreamliner and delay plans to step up output of the 737 line. It also said that it would delay a successor to the 777 mini-jumbo, according to a report in Reuters.

“The 787 cut appears to be mostly tied to China trade negotiations, which at least have the potential to improve over the next 12-months,” said Seaport Global analyst Josh Sullivan.

These new setbacks put pressure on a revamped senior management team. The airline has taken an approximately $8 billion hit from the grounding of the 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing now also faces a slew of investigations by regulators, Congress and the Justice Department.

“I anticipate there will be tough questions, challenging questions, a lot of scrutiny,” he told analysts and journalists on a conference call. “And frankly, we support the scrutiny on the work that we’re doing,” said chief executive Dennis Muilenburg on a conference call with journalists and analysts.

U.S. airlines United, Southwest and American all planned to be without the plane until airlines/southwest-extends-boeing-737-max-cancellations-into-february.html” target=”_self” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>early next year. European regulators had planned for a January return.

Muilenburg noted on the call that “it could well be that approvals will vary by jurisdiction.”