Emirates predicts Boeing’s 737 Max won’t fly until after Christmas

Boeing Co.’s 737 Max will likely not be back in the skies before the end of this year because of a fall-out in cooperation between the US Federal Aviation Administration and other national regulators, according to Tim Clark, president of Emirates.

“You’re going to have a bit of a delay in terms of regulators, Canada, Europe, China,” Clark told reporters at the IATA annual meeting in Seoul. “It’s going to take time to get this aircraft back in the air. If it’s in the air by Christmas I’ll be surprised.”

Should Clark be right, the plane will be grounded longer than what at least one customer said Boeing has told them -- that the aircraft could fly again as soon as July. Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, itself doesn’t operate the 737 Max, but it has partnerships with low-cost carrier FlyDubai, which has more than a dozen Max planes in its fleet and many more due to be delivered.

Boeing “should accept that unless they get all regulators on board, irrespective of how good or how well they think they’ve fixed the aircraft, it’s not going to work,” Clark said. “It’s going to antagonize a lot of people if they insist that this aircraft is safe to fly.”