By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday the agency had not made any decisions on whether to lift the 38 planes per month 737 MAX production plan in place since early 2024, or how it oversees Boeing production.
“Progress is being made. It may not be as fast perhaps as Boeing would like but it is as fast as we can reasonably move through the process,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters after an event in Washington.
The FAA imposed the unprecedented production cap shortly after a January 2024 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 missing four key bolts. Since then, the FAA has maintained enhanced in-person oversight of Boeing production.
Bedford said he was encouraged by Boeing’s improvements but is waiting for data to answer key questions.
“This is going to be a bottom-up process – front-line FAA team that’s really on them to make the recommendation of whether they feel like we’ve reached some of the milestones that would warrant any kind of change,” Bedford said. “None of those recommendations have come up yet. That tells me the work is still ongoing.”
Boeing declined immediate comment.
Separately, Bedford said at an event that the agency was being “stretched thin” as it pursues a massive $12.5 billion overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system, oversight of Boeing as well as new rules on drones and supersonic airplanes, and modernizing airplane certification.
“The agency now I’ll tell you is stretched thin in terms of trying to get a lot of information out the door,” Bedford said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Edward Tobin)
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