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The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday cleared airlines to begin formal inspections of the grounded Boeing 737 Max 9s in their fleets, announcing a protocol that, if followed, could see the jetliners return to the air before the end of the month.
In the same breath, however, the federal regulator also imposed limits on Boeing’s production of the controversial aircraft. “Let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement. “We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”
The agency grounded scores of Max 9s in the wake of a harrowing incident that saw a door plug blow out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing at 16,000 feet on Jan. 5. The move forced Alaska and United Airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.