SEATTLE — Boeing is facing another setback with its 737 MAX jet following an electrical issue that forced airlines to park dozens of planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration asked Boeing to further analyze and show documentation that “numerous 737 MAX subsystems would not be affected by electrical grounding issues,” Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The electrical issue, which was first reported in April, forced airlines to ground more than 100 of 737 MAX jets, which is about 25% of the fleet in service.
Last week, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive requiring a fix for the electrical grounding issue before the jets resumed flight.
Airlines including Southwest, American and United have now been without some of their MAX jets for nearly a month with no certainty about when they will be able to use them again.
“We continue to work closely with the FAA and our customers to address the ground path issue in affected 737s,” a Boeing spokeswoman told Reuters.
The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide for nearly two years until late 2020 when regulators in the United States and many other countries approved changes Boeing made to a flight-control system implicated in the crashes, which killed 346 people.