DGCA awaiting FAA's certification to allow Boeing 737 Max to fly in India

Indian aviation regulator DGCA is waiting for its US counterpart FAA to certify Boeing's solution to issues being faced by the 737 Max to allow the aircraft to fly in the country again, the government said Wednesday.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in a written reply in Rajya Sabha said that "18 Boeing 737 Max aircraft are grounded in the country, out of which 13 are from SpiceJet and five are from Jet Airways".

The aircraft was grounded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 13 after an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed near Addis Ababa on March 10, killing 157 people, including four Indians.

In October last year, a Lion Air operated 737 Max crashed, leaving 180 people dead in Indonesia.

"A solution from Boeing, the manufacturer, and certification of the said solution by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), is awaited by DGCA to consider the safe return of the aircraft to service," Puri said.

On June 26, Boeing had said, "During the FAA's review of the 737 MAX software update and recent simulator sessions, the FAA identified an additional requirement that it has asked the company to address through the software changes that the company has been developing for the past eight months.