Regulators fail to set date for 737 MAX return to service

Civil aviation regulators from around the world failed to make a determination Thursday on when Boeing's popular 737 MAX aircraft can return to the skies after being grounded following two deadly crashes.

"The only timetable is to make sure the aircraft is safe to fly," Daniel Elwell, acting head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, said at the conclusion of the day-long meeting in Texas.

There was "enthusiastic agreement to continue the dialogue," he said, but acknowledged that "each country has to make its own decision." "If they unground relatively close to when we unground I think it would help with public confidence," Elwell said, while adding that: "We can't be driven by some arbitrary timeline."