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Shares of Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) rose on Friday following a report that the European aviation safety regulator is set to allow the 737 MAX aircraft to return to the skies after its grounding around the world.
Shares of the US aviation giant rose 2.5 percent around 5:45 p.m. GMT after Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), told Bloomberg that the plane could start flying before the end of the year.
The 737 MAX was grounded globally in 2019 after accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people, plunging Boeing into a crisis while the MAX underwent a lengthy overhaul process.
Ky said Boeing would add a new sensor to the plane to avoid the kinds of problems that contributed to the accidents, but that the plane could resume service even before the device is installed.
“Our analysis shows that this is safe and that the level of security achieved is high enough for us,” Ky said in an interview. “What we discussed with Boeing is the fact that with the third sensor, we could achieve even higher levels of safety.”
EASA completed test flights on the plane in September and is expected to issue a draft airworthiness directive in November, after which there will be four weeks of public comment, Bloomberg reported.
The regulator also asked Boeing to install a “synthetic sensor” that would assist pilots in the event that they face an angle of attack sensor malfunction, which occurred in both crashes. Existing 737 MAX models will be updated with the new technology.
The US Federal Aviation Administration is also working to return the aircraft to service, conducting test flights and releasing pilot training protocols for the aircraft earlier this month with a public comment period open until 2 December. November.
The agency called that “an important step” but said there are “several key milestones” before the plane can return to service.
S. Jack Heffernan Ph.D. Fund manager at HEFFX has a Ph.D. in Economics and brings with him more than 25 years of business experience in Asia and practical experience in Venture Capital, he has been involved in several startups that have seen a market capitalization of more than $ 500 million and 1 that reaches a maximum market capitalization of $ 15 billion. He has led and supervised start-ups in mining, transportation, technology and financial services.
