Wednesday 29 May 2019 2:21 pm | Updated: Monday 17 June 2019 10:20 pm

Boeing 737 Max unlikely to return to service until ‘at least August’ after recent crashes

Boeing will likely have to wait until at least August before its best-selling jet can return to the skies, after two deadly crashes forced regulators to ground the model across the globe.

Speaking in Seoul earlier today, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Alexandre de Juniac said the decision on when the ban would lift on Boeing’s 737 Max plane rested with regulators, but that it was not likely they would let it fly again before late summer.

“We do not expect something before 10 to 12 weeks in re-entry into service,” he said. “But it is not our hands. That is in the hands of regulators.”

The world’s biggest plane maker last month revealed the extent of the financial damage from grounding its flagship plane model across the globe already stands at $1bn (£790m). It has suspended its 2019 forecasts as it scrambles to get the 737 Max model back in the air after two deadly crashes involving the jet killed 346 people in total. The second, in Ethiopia earlier this year, prompted the worldwide ban because of safety concerns.

The IATA is also laying the groundwork for a meeting between regulators, Boeing and operators of the jet “to make an assessment of the situation,” de Juniac said.

Aviation safety regulators for both Europe and Canada have said they will carry out their own review of changes to the Max put forward by the plane maker before they allow it back into their airspace. This comes after the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), came under fire after the crashes for leaving Boeing to clear the model for safety before it came into operation.

Operators based in the US such as Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have removed the 737 Max model from their flight schedules until mid August, despite reports emerging last week that the FAA hopes to approve the jet’s return to service as soon as late next month.

The last six months have hit the airline industry hard. Fuel, labour and infrastructure costs have grown, while the temperature continues to rise in a number of trade spats involving the US, both with China and the European Union. IATA’s forecast for $35.5bn in industry profits this year is expected to be lowered when the industry group meets in Seoul on 2 June.