Boeing 737 MAX could get EU clearance by year’s end

Boeing’s troubled 737 MAX airliner, grounded for 18 months after two deadly accidents, could receive certification to fly again in Europe “by the end of the year”, the EU’s air safety chief said Friday.

Months after the crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX in Indonesia that killed 189 people, a second disaster involving an Ethiopian Airlines plane in which 157 died prompted flight bans around the world for the model.

Now “for the first time in a year and a half, I can see we’re in sight of the end of the work on the MAX,” European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) chief Patrick Ky told reporters in a video press conference.

“We’re starting to look at how we can get the MAX back in service by the end of the year”.