Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: European plane maker Airbus (AIR.PA) said it had withdrawn from a US government-named panel reviewing Boeing’s (BA.N) safety processes and how they influenced Boeing safety culture after 346 people were killed in two deadly 737 MAX crashes in recent years.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) panel named experts from the FAA, labour unions, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, NASA, United Airlines, FedEx Express, and GE Aviation in the safety review panel.
Airbus statement on withdrawal
James Tidball, head of the Airbus Americas certification, was also named. In a statement to Reuters, while acknowledging Tidball’s objectivity in the area of safety, Airbus stated that due to the panel’s concentration on a specific OEM, Tidball “has opted to withdraw himself from this working group.”
The panel has nine months to complete its investigation and present its findings and suggestions. Congress mandated the panel under a 2020 law to change how the FAA certifies new aircraft. The FAA still needs to satisfy the early 2021 deadline set by Congress for the panel’s appointment.
A US House report said in 2020 the MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 “were the horrific end of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.”
Last week, Boeing declined to comment on the panel but previously emphasized that it has significantly reformed its safety culture after the MAX crashes cost it more than $20 billion.
