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U.S. NEWS Thursday 14 March 2019

FAA RELENTS he said. cally fly for up to 40 years,
Continued from Front "I think any disruptions will and any needed fix will be
"At the end of the day, it is be very minor," he said. made quickly, he said.
a decision that has the full Sharon Barnes, a passen- Shares in Chicago-based
support of the secretary, ger at Seattle-Tacoma In- Boeing ended up $1.73
the president and the FAA ternational Airport, said she or about 0.5 percent, at
as an agency," Elwell said. agreed with grounding the $377.14 Wednesday after
While early satellite track- planes. "I think it was the they lost more than 11 per-
ing data showed similarities right decision given that cent in the first two days this
between the Ethiopian jet's the rest of the world is do- week. The stock is still up 17
flight path and Lion Air, El- ing the same thing, and it's percent for the year.
well said the FAA was skep- a prudent thing to be doing The growing number of
tical of the low-resolution until we know more about countries joining the ban
images. The data showed what's going on," she said. put the FAA in a difficult
movements that weren't Michael Fortman, picking position, said Peter Goelz,
consistent with how air- up wife at the Seattle air- a former managing direc-
planes fly, Elwell said. port, wondered why the tor of the NTSB who is now
On Wednesday, global air planes could pass all tests an aviation consultant. He
traffic surveillance compa- to be flying, yet they now said the FAA, which certi-
ny Aireon, Boeing and the have been grounded. fied the 737 Max as airwor- Workers walk down stairs from a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane be-
U.S. National Transportation "Did it really go through all thy and has been the lead ing built for American Airlines at Boeing Co.'s Renton assembly
Safety Board were able to the testing or not, or just regulatory body for the plant, Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in Renton, Wash.
enhance the initial data stuff afterward that they're airplane.q Associated Press
and make it more precise finding out about the
"to create a description of plane?"Fortman asked.
the flight that made it simi- Boeing issued a statement
lar enough to Lion Air," El- saying it supported the
well said. FAA's decision even though
He wouldn't detail the it "continues to have full
evidence found on the confidence" in the planes'
ground, saying the FAA is a safety.
party to the ongoing inves- The company also said it
tigation. had recommended the
The U.S. also grounded a suspension of the Max fleet
larger version of the plane, after consultations with the
the Max 9. government.
The Ethiopian plane's flight The groundings will have a
data and voice recorders far-reaching financial im-
were to be sent to France pact on Boeing, at least in
Wednesday night for anal- the short term, said John
ysis, Elwell said. Some avia- Cox, a veteran pilot and
tion experts have warned CEO of Safety Operat-
that finding answers in that ing Systems. In addition to
crash, which killed 157 peo- those that have already
ple, could take months. been grounded, there are
Airlines, mainly Southwest, more than 4,600 Boeing
American and United, 737 Max 8 planes on back-
should be able to swap out log that are not yet deliv-
planes pretty quickly, and ered to airlines. "There are
passengers shouldn't be delivery dates that aren't
terribly inconvenienced, being met, there's usage
said Paul Hudson, president of the aircraft that's not be-
of flyersrights.org, which ing met, and all the supply
represents passengers. The chain things that Boeing so
Max, he said, makes up carefully crafted," Cox said.
only a small percentage of Even so, Boeing will recov-
the U.S. passenger jet fleet, er, because planes typi-