{"text":[[{"start":9.077,"text":"US regulators said a software glitch in Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max aircraft will delay certification of a hotly anticipated new model, in a potential blow to the aerospace giant’s recovery efforts and airlines squeezed by rising fuel costs."}],[{"start":23.54,"text":"Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said on Monday that the agency would not approve the Max 10 until it is “satisfied that we don’t have an issue” with the automated navigation function on some 737s."}],[{"start":36.32,"text":"Shares in Boeing fell 6 per cent on Monday to $184."}],[{"start":40.88,"text":"As the war in Iran pushes up fuel prices, airlines are desperate to get their hands on the Max 10 — Boeing’s short-haul jet that rivals Airbus’s best-selling A321 — as they look to increase capacity and lower operating costs."}],[{"start":54.28,"text":"A Boeing spokesperson said that “we continue to follow the lead of the FAA as we work through the certification process”."}],[{"start":60.86,"text":"The Max 10, the largest variant of the flagship single-aisle model, is crucial to Boeing’s ability to repair its balance sheet following the fallout from fatal Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 and a door blowout in 2024. Boeing aims to use the Max 10 to help it take on Airbus in the lucrative narrow-body segment of the market."}],[{"start":80.26,"text":"The model accounts for more than 50 per cent of all of Boeing’s 737 Max orders since 2020, even though it has not yet been certified. The wider Max programme accounts for more than 70 per cent of Boeing’s total order backlog of 6,755 aircraft at the end of August."}],[{"start":98.14,"text":"Major carriers including Alaska, American, United and Ryanair have been waiting for years for the Max 10 to be certified. Boeing’s chief executive Kelly Ortberg said earlier this month that approval would come “very soon”, while Alaska’s chief operating officer Jason Berry said last week that it could come as soon as this month."}],[{"start":116.78,"text":"The software issue has come to the fore just as Boeing has been preparing to start deliveries of the smaller Max 7 model, which was certified by the FAA in August."}],[{"start":125.72,"text":"The software glitch, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, can occur when pilots need to change their planned flight path after an aborted landing."}],[{"start":133.22,"text":"The glitch is contained in a software update made in November 2024. Since then, Boeing has delivered 801 737 Max jets, although not all of them included the affected software."}],[{"start":146.88,"text":"Sheila Kahyaoglu, an analyst at Jefferies, noted the FAA was convening a “Corrective Action Board” that could take days or weeks to assess the issue. If the agency concluded that the glitch constituted a safety problem, she said, this could also potentially lead to a delay in deliveries of the Max 7."}],[{"start":165.9,"text":"Boeing said on the weekend that it had informed all 737 operators of software where “pilots may not have access to automated flight guidance during a specific landing scenario”. The company added that all pilots are trained to safely land a plane “without automated vertical navigation”."}],[{"start":183.02,"text":"Canadian airline WestJet said on Monday that it has planes that use the affected software, but that it had not experienced any “in-service events” and that it was working closely with Boeing on the issue."}],[{"start":194.22,"text":"In a statement, the FAA said that “safety dictates the certification timeline. We’re following our safety review process to investigate this software glitch and won’t hesitate to take action if needed.”"}],[{"start":206.5,"text":"Boeing has been under intense scrutiny since two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. The incidents led to the worldwide grounding of the model and triggered a shakeout of its top management."}],[{"start":226.46,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790662827_4813.mp3"}