FAA releases 36 pages of proposed fixes for Boeing’s 737 MAX jets

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a 36-page document on Monday detailing a range of fixes and training Boeing needs to implement before the 737 Max can return to commercial service.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the document, which contained few provisions that were reportedly surprising to Boeing executives, has been in the works since before the planes were grounded in spring 2019 following two deadly crashes within a six-month period.

“While we still have a lot of work in front of us, this is an important milestone in the certification process,” a spokesperson for Boeing told the Journal.

While the document only applies to planes flying out of U.S. airports, the changes are expected to be adopted by aviation authorities around the world, according to the Journal. Among the reported changes are fixes to hazardous wiring deemed at-risk of short circuiting and a requirement that both in-flight computers be operating at the same time.

All 737 Max jets operating in the U.S. will undergo “an operational readiness flight prior to returning each airplane to service,” the document states.

Two deadly crashes involving 737 Max jets operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines caused nearly 350 deaths and led to the grounding of the Max jets in March 2019. Boeing has struggled for months to win approval for the planes to fly again, and in January said that it hoped to have them approved for commercial flights by mid-2020.

The company has entered legal settlements with several major airlines over losses as a result from the grounded planes, and CEO Dennis Muilenburg resigned in December as the company halted production of the planes.