Boeing's software update to the 737 Max 8 was reportedly delayed more than a month because of the government shutdown

Southwest Airlines

• The government shutdown delayed an important software fix to the Boeing 737 Max 8 for five weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• A software update was originally expected in January, but delayed for five weeks, US officials told the paper.
• April is the new expected date for the fix, Boeing said following the second crash of its 737 Max 8 plane on Sunday.

Following the first crash of its 737 Max 8 plane in October, Boeing was working on a software update to fix a "safety feature" designed to pitch the plane's nose down to avoid a stall

The company said following the latest crash of the same aircraft on Sunday, the second in less than five months, that it has been working on enhancement stop the flight control software "for the past several months."

That effort was complicated, however, by the 35-day government shutdown that ended in February, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

With all but the most essential staff - air-traffic controllers and safety oversight workers, for example - on furlough, the software fix was delayed by five weeks, US officials told the Paper, from their original expected delivery date of January.

Eventually, the FAA okayed the delayed, because Boeing and other experts saw no immediate safety threat, another source told the Journal.

That changed on Sunday, when Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 on board. It' was the second crash of a 737 Max 8 in less than five months, and prompted a majority of the world's countries - but not the US or Canada - to ban the plane from their airports and airspace.

Read more: Everything we know about Ethiopian Airlines' deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second disaster involving the plane in 5 months

Lawmakers have called on the FAA to follow suit, but as of Tuesday, the agency was standing by its decision to continue to allow the plane to fly. The US-based carriers that operate the plane, Southwest, American, and United, were also standing by their fleet.

"The FAA says it anticipates mandating this software enhancement with an Airworthiness Directive (AD) no later than April," Boeing said. "We have worked with the FAA in development of this software enhancement."

More on Boeing's 737 Max 8 and the Ethiopian Airlines disaster:

• Everything we know about Ethiopian Airlines' deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second disaster involving the plane in 5 months
• Norwegian Air reportedly tells Boeing to 'take this bill' after grounding its fleet of 18 Boeing 737 Max planes
• This map shows all the countries to ban the Boeing 737 Max 8, and where airlines have grounded their fleets, after Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157
• Elected officials are calling on the US government to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 after the plane was involved in 2 deadly crashes
• Boeing's CEO reportedly asked President Trump not to ground the company's plane that has crashed twice in 5 months
• Pilots complained to authorities about issues with the Boeing 737 Max for months before the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash
• The US government says it has no reason to ground the Boeing 737 MAX that has crashed twice since October
• These airlines will likely take the biggest hit after the Boeing 737 Max was involved in two deadly crashes
• The Boeing 737 Max has come under fire after 2 deadly crashes in 5 months - but the aircraft is likely to be successful in the long-run, an aviation expert explains
• These airlines will likely take the biggest hit after the Boeing 737 Max was involved in two deadly crashes
• 'You basically put a student pilot in there': The copilot of crashed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 had just 200 hours of flight experience
• Boeing is going to update the control software on the 737 Max that may cause the plane to nosedive
• Boeing has $400 billion in orders on the books, 80% of them are for the 737
• 'I don't want Albert Einstein to be my pilot': Trump says airplanes are becoming 'too complex to fly' as the UK, China, and other nations ground the Boeing 737 Max 8
• These are the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia
• The family of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 captain speaks out after crash that killed 157 people
• A Georgetown University law student who reportedly expressed a fear of flying is among the 157 dead in the Ethiopian Airlines crash
• The black box from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines flight has been found
• An Ethiopian Airlines passenger said he missed the crashed flight by 2 minutes: 'I'm grateful to be alive'
• People of 35 different nationalities were killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, including 8 Americans

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