Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has again issued a new round of apologies to the global public regarding the current spate of troubles that their 737 MAX passenger airliner has been going through in past months. Two crashes of the aircraft on different international airlines have led to the general grounding of the 737 MAX, and it is a development that Muilenburg has been saying 'sorry' for, for quite some time already.

And Boeing’s woes have not ended just yet. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has determined that, as investigations into the 737 MAX fleet continue, they may not be used to fly until this August.

Summit called regarding 737 MAX

IATA, the trade body that looks after the global airline industry, will leave it to regulators to set in stone how long the Boeing 737 MAX air fleet will stay on the ground. However, their Director General Alexandre de Juniac is of the opinion that nothing might be done to change the status quo for 10 to 12 weeks. De Juniac mentioned to the media on Wednesday, May 29, that IATA will call together airlines around the world for a summit with Boeing and regulators to hammer out when the manufacturer’s planes can be returned to service with their carriers. The summit is expected to convene sometime within 5-7 months.

In the midst of this, Boeing boss Muilenburg delivered his latest apologies for the 737 MAX, as well as talking about the consequences of the fatal crashes that besmirched the name of the aircraft and the company that made them.

"We can't change what has happened in these accidents but we can be absolutely resolute in what we're going to do on safety going forward," noted Muilenburg to CBS. He added that Boeing has worked hard and fast to come up with an update for their 737’s flight-control software, the current prime suspect for the crashes according to the investigators.

Aircraft crashes affect Boeing

The ordeal of the Boeing 737 MAX began with the crash of Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610 into the Java Sea in October 2018. Concerns about the safety of the narrow-body airline skyrocketed further in March when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 also crashed. Both incidents killed all passengers and crew aboard them.

Boeing, in turn, has suffered from the grounding of the other 737 MAX units plus the order cancellations of new planes from their regular airline clients. From Indonesia’s Garuda Airlines alone, Boeing stands to lose $5 billion.

Dennis Muilenburg remains confident that once the tech issues with the flight-control are fixed, and the airline regulators and IATA reassured of the aircraft’s quality, that the 737 MAX will return to the skies. The proposed software update is currently being cleared with US regulatory board, the Federal Aviation Administration.
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