US aviation authority says seats on hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets were incorrectly installed

• The US Federal Aviation Administration found seats on 453 Boeing 737 MAX jets were incorrectly installed, posing injury risks during emergency landings.
• The FAA's airworthiness directive targets up to 69 seat assemblies per aircraft, each needing about one hour to fix.
• The FAA did not specify a deadline for repairs, and Boeing has not yet commented on the issue.

SEATTLE – The US Federal Aviation Administration said on July 27 that seats on hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets registered in the US were incorrectly installed and need to be fixed.

If not, the seats could injure passengers during an emergency landing.

The FAA’s proposed airworthiness directive issued on July 27 would apply to 453 jets registered in the US. It did not say whether international operators would also be affected, though they typically follow FAA directives if applicable.

The agency said in the airworthiness directive proposal that it received “a report that certain passenger seat assemblies were not correctly installed in the seat tracks”.

There could be up to 69 track-mounted passenger seat assemblies on each 737 MAX plane and the issue would take an estimated one work-hour to fix each assembly, the FAA said.

It did not say how quickly airlines would need to fix the issue.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS