Patrick Ky, the executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), stated that despite early differences between the American planemaker and the authority, the certification process for the Boeing 777X is still moving forward. While the European regulator and Boeing disagreed on a number of concerns, Ky hinted in an interview with Aviation Week that answers have since been found, enabling certification of the 777X to move forward.
Aviation Week cited persons with knowledge of the situation as saying that the key point of contention was how vulnerable the aircraft's flight control system was to potential failures caused by things like lighting strikes, maintenance mistakes, and software flaws.
During the Dubai Airshow in November 2013, Boeing unveiled the 777X as the replacement for its best-selling wide-body model, the 777, and received 250 orders and pledges from airlines like Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, and Lufthansa. The aircraft was chosen by Lufthansa "for its future long-haul fleet," according to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), who predicted that it would enter service "before the end of the decade."
However, because of the mounting problems and ensuing holdups, the OEM declared in April 2022 that the 777X would be delivered in 2025. Most recently, a problem with the General Electric (GE) GE9X engine forced Boeing to halt fly testing of the aircraft for two months. In January 2020, the Boeing 777X made its maiden flight. A total of 394 wide-body planes, including the 777-8 F, the freighter version, had been ordered as of February 28, 2023, according to Boeing's Orders and Delivery data.