US: Lawmakers in favor of lifting Dec. 27 deadline for Boeing 737 MAX aircraft safety certification

Lawmakers in the US Congress have supported calls to lift an upcoming deadline for Boeing that imposed a safety standard for two versions of the aircraft manufacturer’s two models. This follows months after the company called to lift the deadline that was imposed by Congress back in 2020 after two fatal crashes.

US Senate Commerce Committee chair Senator Maria Cantwell attached the proposal to lift the deadline in the legislation to fund the government. The proposal also requires new safety enhancements for existing Boeing MAX aircraft. Congress is also expected to approve the bill this week.

Congress imposed a deadline for the plane manufacturer back in 2020 as a result of two fatal plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the planes being the 737 MAX versions. 346 people were killed in those two crashes at the time.

Aside from Boeing, some aviation unions have also warned that if Congress fails to lift the deadline, it would threaten new models and would cost jobs. Families of those killed in the two crashes, “Miracle on the Hudson River” pilot Captain Sully Sullenberger, and House Transportation Committee chair Rep. Peter DeFazio, however, were opposed to lifting the deadline.

In Cantwell’s proposal, existing Boeing MAX planes would be retrofitted with a synthetic enhanced angle-of-attack system and the ability to shut off stall warning and overspeed alerts. Airline operators will have three years from the certification of the 737 MAX 10 in order to retrofit existing planes, and that Boeing must shoulder the costs.

“The safety-first alternative is much stronger than the no-strings-attached approach that was first offered. Passengers need to know that the entire MAX fleet will be uniform and safer,” said Cantwell in a statement.

On Tuesday, the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee voted to release the long-sought-after tax returns of former President Donald Trump to the public, but the records would be partially redacted. The committee said the former president failed to properly go through his returns while he was in office.

The panel voted to release the records from 2015 to 2021 during the years of Trump’s candidacy and during his term.