A little-publicized report from China's aviation regulator may hold the key to restarting Boeing's 737 MAX deliveries to China.
On Friday, Reuters reported that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) had released the second revision of its 737 MAX evaluation report. CAAC released the revision on April 14th, and although it is publicly available and seen by Reuters, it has not received widespread publicity. The recently released second revision includes updates to pilot training for the 737 MAX and other technical information on the aircraft.
This revision would probably have been distributed to Chinese airlines, and Reuters' assessment, quoting a person familiar with the matter, is that it "conveyed the message that the regulator had reviewed the airplane and that carriers could take delivery should they want to." The sources were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and so declined to be named.
At Boeing's annual meeting last week, CEO Dave Calhoun described the report as "encouraging progress" and "an important step" for enabling future deliveries. Recognizing that the Chinese airlines accept the aircraft, Calhoun added that "our customers will determine the timing of when they are ready to take delivery of their airplane."
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