SEATTLE: The US Federal Aviation Administration stated on Monday (Jul 27) that seats on tons of of Boeing 737 MAX jets registered within the US have been incorrectly put in and have to be fastened.
If not, the seats may injure passengers and crew members throughout an emergency touchdown or block the aisle and sluggish an evacuation, the company stated.
The FAA’s proposed airworthiness directive issued on Monday would apply to 453 jets registered within the US. The company solely has jurisdiction over US airways, however international regulators usually comply with FAA directives if relevant.
The proposed directive comes as Boeing works to enhance its manufacturing high quality and increase output underneath CEO Kelly Ortberg. Manufacturing high quality issues have been revealed in early 2024 when a door-plug panel blew out of a nearly new Alaska Air 737 MAX in flight.
The FAA stated within the airworthiness directive proposal that it acquired a report that some passenger seat assemblies weren’t accurately put in within the seat tracks.
That meant the assemblies may disengage from the seat tracks if there was an elevated load, turbulence or an emergency touchdown, the FAA stated.
“This situation, if not addressed, may end in harm to passengers and crew throughout an emergency touchdown or may block the aisle, which may sluggish evacuation,” it added.
There might be as much as 69 track-mounted passenger seat assemblies on every 737 MAX airplane and the difficulty would take an estimated one work hour to repair every meeting and requires no components to take action, the FAA stated.
It didn’t say how shortly airways would want to appropriate the difficulty.
A Boeing spokesperson stated the planemaker issued steering to operators in regards to the concern in December 2025.
“We assist the FAA making that steering necessary,” the spokesperson stated in an electronic mail.
