Boeing 737 MAX: The Latest Example of a Passive DOT (Mrs. Turtle is just as bad)

Thirty-five Congressional mandates sit unanswered, on everything from minimum seat space to secondary barriers protecting cockpits. The top job at the Federal Aviation Administration has been open for 14 months. Enforcement fines against major U.S. airlines have dropped 88% in the past two years, even as three-hour tarmac delays have more than doubled.

The Transportation Department under Secretary Elaine Chao has seemingly been delayed on a number of issues important to travelers. Even with airlines begging for rules on emotional-support animals, and both Republicans and Democrats expressing concerns about swollen fees, shrunken seating and punitive airline policies, the DOT has been loath to issue new regulations.

Now Ms. Chao’s department, which includes the FAA, faces its toughest regulatory challenge: safety concerns on the Boeing 737 MAX. (This was written before Trump ordered the grounding). Two fatal crashes of the new airplane in the past five months have led several nations and some airlines to ground the jet. So far, the FAA, siding with Boeing and U.S. airlines, says the plane is safe and a software fix is coming by the end of April. Sales of Boeing planes have been important to President Trump’s trade and employment objectives. But pressure is mounting, and if investigators find the same system is responsible for both crashes, it will be increasingly difficult for the FAA and Ms. Chao to leave a plane with a fatal flaw in the air. Consumer advocates say the Transportation Department has been invisible.

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In keeping with the push to reduce regulation, Ms. Chao’s DOT stopped a number of rule-making efforts in progress at the end of the Obama administration. Among them: imposing requirements on disclosure of baggage and other fees at ticket purchase, as well as a review of how fees in the airline industry were affecting competition...The Transportation Department is the only stop for passenger rights since Congress exempted air travel in 1978 from any state or local regulation.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-737-max-the-latest-example-of-a-passive-dot-11552409944 (Paid subscription)