FAA tells US airlines it could approve MAX return to service before mid-year

Meanwhile, Boeing's attempt on Friday to launch the maiden flight of its 777X - the world's largest twin-engined jetliner - in Seattle was delayed because of inclement weather. The planemaker will try again on Saturday. Pictures shows A Boeing 777X airplane taxing for the first flight, which had to be rescheduled due to weather, at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, on January 24, 2020.

WASHINGTON: Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson called senior U.S. airline officials on Friday and told them the agency could approve the grounded Boeing 737 MAX's return to service before mid-year - a faster time frame than the planemaker suggested this week, people briefed on the calls said.

Dickson's calls came as the FAA issued a statement on Friday voicing progress on the 737 MAX, in a shifting tone that helped push the planemaker's shares higher even as concerns grew that it may cut production of another aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner.