Boeing to be allowed to resume certifying airworthiness of its planes

Boeing will be allowed to take responsibility for certifying all of its 737 Max and 787 planes starting next week, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.

The FAA said that after months of review the agency decided that Boeing’s final safety checks on its planes are good enough to ensure they are airworthy.

Since September, Boeing and the agency had been taking weekly turns performing the safety checks that are required before aircraft are cleared for delivery and declared safe to fly.

The FAA said on Friday that the plane maker and government inspectors were both issuing similar findings as they issued airworthiness certificates.

Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely

Federal regulators took full control over 737 Max approvals 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.

“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.

Government inspectors will continue to oversee Boeing’s factories, but Mr Bedford said they will now be able to focus more on finding and addressing potential defects earlier in the manufacturing process.

Boeing did not immediately respond to the FAA’s announcement.

Over the past year the FAA has also been easing the monthly production limits it imposed on Boeing’s 737 Max jets after a panel flew off one of those planes operated by Alaska Airlines mid-flight in January 2024.

That limit has gradually increased from 38 per month to reach 47 per month this summer.