(ATF) Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has resumed deliveries of its troubled 737 MAX, after US authorities approved repairs of an electrical issue that grounded dozens of jets, including those belonging to several Asian airlines.
Reuters reported on April 16 that Boeing stopped delivering the single-aisle jet after the electrical-grounding problem – months after the plane returned to service following a lengthy safety ban due to two fatal crashes.
Boeing shares were down 1.6% on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped.
Earlier this month, Boeing won approval from US regulators for a fix for the issue that had affected about 100 737 MAX aircraft. Shandong Airlines, SilkAir, Spice Jet and Xiamen Airlines were hit by the grounding, as was Minsheng Leasing.
That approval cleared the way for the jet’s quick return to service.
POWER CONTROL UNIT
Airlines had pulled dozens of 737 MAX jets from service in early April after Boeing warned of the electrical problem, linked to a backup power control unit in the cockpit on some recently-built planes.
The problem was then found in two other places on the flight deck, including the storage rack where the control unit is kept and the instrument panel facing the pilots.
The 737 MAX was approved to return to service in November 2020 in the US after being grounded for 20 months following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing has been hit with penalties and compensation clauses from aggrieved purchasers, such as low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair, which will buy another 75 aircraft from Boeing, increasing its total order to 210 planes.
“Ryanair has negotiated discounts and further compensation due to delays in delivery,” Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
With reporting by Reuters
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