The FAA, and its chief regulators, must act in their self interest, and the economy's — Boeing is the biggest US exporter.
The FAA's reputation as a global leader and authority is, if not in immediate peril, then certainly a topic of discussion. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has indicated that it will be taking a closer look at Boeing's fix for the plane than it typically would — normally, the safety regulator from the plane-maker's home country certifies a new or updated plane, and other regulators simply accept and implement their findings, with maybe just a few test flights of their own.
Read more: European regulators say they'll test the fixed 737 Max themselves, rather than trusting the FAA's findings
The divergence between EASA and the FAA could set a new precedent going forward, and undo decades of work by regulators in the US, Europe, Canada, Brazil — all of which have major plane-makers — and other nations, which have all made substantial efforts to align their standards and processes, allowing for time- and cost-saving reciprocal honoring of each other's findings.
Undoing those practices would be disastrous for Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer, and every other planemaker looking to sell to international customers, so it's not something that any nation's regulators would take lightly. But their first duty is to passengers, not planemakers.
"The US aerospace industry is huge and thus there both must be an FAA and the FAA must be respected around the world," Andrew Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy, an air transport consultancy, recently told me. "US exports depend on it, frankly."
An end to the practice of accepting the home-nation's regulator's finding could be disastrous to Boeing — it could drastically delay the certification process for new planes, thus delaying manufacturing, sales, delivery, and revenue.
It would also be problematic for airlines, which would face delays in receiving new aircraft, which are typically more fuel-efficient, costing less to operate.
"With the 737 Max we are a bit worried ... because we don't see the normal unanimity among international regulators that should be the case," Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global trade organization representing airlines told reporters last week. "We see a discrepancy that's detrimental to the industry."
The FAA is therefore incentivized to prove to the rest of the world that it's up to the task.
"The issue for the FAA is not that its reputation took a hit with the Max, but that its reputation will depend on how it responds to the crisis, and how it will go forward," Charlton said.
As with Boeing, although there has not been direct action yet, there are indications that the FAA is open to change its internal processes based on lessons from the Max.
An international panel formed by the FAA in order to review the its certification process after the crashes — the Joint Authorities Technical Review, or JATR — is expected to recommend changes, including to the program by which the FAA allows Boeing to self-certify aspects of its new planes. Although there is not yet indication of whether or not Boeing will accept or publicize the recommendations, the formation of the committee is a step in the right direction.
The JATR consists of safety regulators from around the world, including the FAA, and NASA.
The FAA declined an interview, but offered the following statement:
The FAA is following a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the Boeing 737 MAX to passenger service. The FAA's certification of the Boeing 737 MAX is the subject of several independent reviews and investigations that will examine all aspects of the five-year effort.
While the agency's certification processes are well-established and have consistently produced safe aircraft designs, we welcome the scrutiny from these safety experts and look forward to their findings. We continue to work with other international aviation safety regulators and will carefully consider all recommendations. The FAA will incorporate any changes that would improve our certification activities.
The 737 MAX certification program involved 110,000 hours of work on the part of FAA personnel, including flying or supporting 297 test flights.