By Julie Johnsson and Richard Clough, Bloomberg
Boeing resumed some flights of its new 737 Max jetliner two days after detecting a potential manufacturing flaw in the engines.
The company was cleared by regulators to fly planes powered by spare engines that don’t include the possibly defective part in the Leap turbine, which is made by General Electric and Safran.
The restart of some flights raised the possibility that Boeing could maintain its commitment to deliver the first of the upgraded 737 jets next week to Malindo Air, an affiliate of Indonesia’s Lion Mentari Airlines. Boeing said earlier this week that a possible quality defect in the Leap engine’s low-pressure turbine discs had come to light recently during supplier inspections and hadn’t affected flight testing.
About 30 affected engines are being shipped to locations in the U.S. and France to be torn down and inspected in the coming days, said Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE Aviation. The questionable components come from a single disc supplier, and the 737 Max planes being flown now use discs from other manufacturers, he said.
Boeing still plans to start deliveries of the 737 Max this month, said Doug Alder, a spokesman for the Chicago-based planemaker.
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