• Boeing is planning on restarting the production of its grounded 737 Max aircraft by May, according to Reuters.
• Several industry sources told Reuters that the plan was to renew production of the plane in April, though that deadline has since been moved to May due to uncertainty surrounding the novel coronavirus spread.
• Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith told Reuters that restarting production of the jet would be a “very slow, methodical, systematic approach to warming the line up, and getting crews back in place.”
• Airlines around the world have been slashing international and domestic flights and demand for air travel has plummeted as countries around the world continue to seal off their borders to contain the pandemic.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Boeing is reportedly planning on restarting the production of its troubled 737 Max aircraft by May.

Several industry sources told Reuters that the initial plan was to renew production of the plane in April, though that deadline has since been moved to May due to uncertainty surrounding the novel coronavirus spread.

The entire fleet of Boeing’s best-selling aircraft has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes involving the jet left a combined 346 people dead in a five-month span.

Boeing suspended production of the plane in January and has 400 undelivered jets in storage, according to Reuters. The company first touted the possibility of slowing or suspending the jet’s production in July 2019, depending on whether the jet remained grounded into 2020.

Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith told Reuters that restarting production of the jet would be a “very slow, methodical, systematic approach to warming the line up, and getting crews back in place.”

“Priority number 1 is getting customers’ fleets back up,” Smith said. “We don’t want to add to inventory.”

Beyond coronavirus, Boeing also faces another hurdle of getting the 737 Max recertified by US regulators in order to return the jet to service. Boeing had hoped that the plane would be cleared to return to service by the end of 2019, but the FAA said in December that the timeline was “not realistic.“

FAA chief Steve Dickson said earlier this month that the 737 Max was set to take its certification flight in the upcoming weeks, though it’s unclear if that timeline has shifted as the aviation industry takes a major hit from the coronavirus spread.

Airlines around the world have been slashing international and domestic flights and demand for air travel has plummeted as countries around the world continue to seal off their borders to contain the pandemic.

In a statement last week, Boeing called for at least $US60 billion in bailout money to help aerospace companies struggling with a decline in revenue.

Boeing said on Monday that it would pause production at its Washington state factory due to coronavirus risks, as at least 18 of its employees were confirmed to have caught the novel coronavirus. Washington state has been hit hard with the coronavirus and has reported over 2,448 cases and 124 deaths as of Tuesday.

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