Boeing has designed an engine anti-ice system fix for its 737 Max 7 and expects that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will certificate the jet in 2025.
“We are progressing on the engine anti-ice [system]” modification, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Stephanie Pope said on 20 July. “We have decided on a design and we will be working through the flight test.”
Pope says Boeing aims to complete the jet’s certification “around” early to mid-2025 but declines to be more specific.
Boeing in January said it was redesigning the Max 7’s engine anti-ice system to address an issue that could cause overheating. At the time, Boeing said it needed about one year to complete the redesign, marking another delay to an already overrunning certification programme.
The problem has been a known issue with all 737 Max variants. Until January, Boeing had hoped to have the 737 Max 7 certificated despite the problem and to later incorporate a fix into both new and in-service aircraft.
To that end, last year the company asked the FAA to approve an exemption that would have temporarily freed the Max 7 from needing to meet some certification rules. If granted, the exemption would have allowed the regulator to certificate the type despite the problem.
Boeing withdrew the request in January amid intense scrutiny and public pushback following the 5 January in-flight failure of an Alaska Airlines’ 737 Max 9 door-plug.
Boeing’s in-service Max 8s and Max 9s have the same anti-ice system issue, though the FAA has allowed those types to continue flying while Boeing develops the fix.
The regulator has addressed the risk with an airworthiness directive requiring airlines to update flight manuals to prohibit Max 8 and Max 9 pilots from using the anti-ice system in certain conditions.
