Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told lawmakers the embattled 737 Max, which has been grounded for seven months, will fly again once “everyone is convinced it’s safe.”
“The airplane will return to service when it’s safe,” Muilenburg said Tuesday in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. “This is not going to be timeline driven. We are committed to answering every question the regulators have.”
Boeing’s fleet of 737 Max has been out of commercial service since mid-March following two crashes that killed all 346 passengers on board.
Investigations found the plane’s anti-stall system was the link between the incidents involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights, and Boeing began working on a software patch for the system, called MCAS.
The fix was completed in May, but the planes have yet to receive recertification from federal regulators, leading U.S. airlines to extend flight cancellations into January and Boeing to take a financial hit.
Muilenburg told the Senate Commerce Committee that Boeing is in the “final stages” of the recertification process and is testing its final software updates. Over the next few weeks and months, Boeing will conduct a certification flight with the Federal Aviation Administration, and the agency will then issue an airworthiness directive.
[Related: Boeing chief: ‘We own’ the mistakes made with the 737 Max]
While the company initially focused on updates to MCAS, Boeing identified mid-year additional safety enhancements it could make, which it decided to proceed with while the 737 Max was grounded.
“When our teams find opportunity to improve safety, that goes to the top of the list,” Muilenburg said, adding that the culture at Boeing is to focus on safety regardless of time or money.
Muilenburg’s testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee marks his first appearance before lawmakers since the two crashes. He will also appear Wednesday before the House Transportation Committee.
The company head has been grilled by lawmakers about the process for certifying the 737 Max and whether he was aware of messages from Mark Forkner, the 737 chief technical pilot, who said in 2016 the anti-stall system was “running rampant” during simulator tests and he “lied to the regulators (unknowingly).”
Muilenburg told lawmakers he knew of Forkner’s messages, revealed this month, before the second crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March. The first crash occurred in October.
The messages, he said, were discovered and turned over in response to an ongoing government investigation.
“Boeing should have notified the FAA about that conversation upon its discovery immediately,” said Republican Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Muilenburg on early claims from Boeing that the crashes were the result of pilot error, rather than an issue with the anti-stall system.
“Those pilots never had a chance. These loved ones never had a chance,” the Connecticut Democrat said. “They were in flying coffins.”
Boeing, Blumenthal said, was “putting profits over safety.”
