Boeing's 737 Max Problems: Skift Timeline

09.02.2024 - 11:36 / skift.com / Rashaad Jorden / Spirit Aerosystems

The January blowout on a Boeing Max 9 on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was just the latest in the series of issues Boeing has had with its Max aircraft.

That incident drove the Federal Aviation Administration to order the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Maxes and increase oversight of the planemaker. The FAA said on January 24 that it’s halting any production expansion of the 737 Max.

Alaska and United, which fly the Max 9 in the U.S., are now back to flying the jet after canceling thousands of flights throughout January. But that won’t be the end of the story: Investigations are ongoing, as is the political fallout.

Here’s a timeline from Skift news coverage of how we got here.

Lion Air flight JT610, a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, crashed into the sea off Jakarta shortly after departing on a domestic flight, killing all 189 passengers. Investigators said automated systems probably believed erroneously that the aircraft had stalled and needed to descend to increase airspeed.

Skift reported the following month that Boeing and FAA asked airlines, including United, to better prepare crews to understand the 737 Max’s automated system. The 737 Max 8 jet had only been launched globally the previous year. 

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after taking from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board and representing the second fatal plash in five months involving a a 737 Max 8 jet.

The FAA then ordered U.S. airlines to ground all 737 Max aircraft, following in the footsteps of regulators from China, Europe and Canada. Although the FAA didn’t say when it would lift the ban, Skift reported it could last at least until investigators review the flight data recorder and cockpit voice reporter from the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Boeing said it agreed with the FAA’s decision.

“Boeing has determined — out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety — to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of the operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 Max aircraft,” the company said.

The 737 Max didn’t return to passenger service worldwide until a Gol flight from São Paulo to Porto Alegre in December 2020.

Boeing paused deliveries of some 737 Max jets due to quality-related problems with certain components made by one of its main suppliers. That came after the planemaker haltered deliveries of its 767F frieghter and KC-tanker earlier in the year after the company discovered center fuel tanks made by a supplier were not properly sealed.

Boeing said it identified a 737 Max quality problem involving supplier Spirit AeroSystems that resulted in improperly drilled holes on the aft pressure bulkhead. The planemaker said