Paris (AFP)

The setbacks continue for the 737 MAX: five months after the aircraft returned to flight after two fatal accidents, Boeing asked some of its customers not to fly certain aircraft, the time to resolve a "potential electrical problem ".

The American aircraft manufacturer announced on Friday that it had asked 16 companies operating unnamed 737 MAXs not to fly them, the time to resolve it.

"The recommendation is made to allow verification of the existence of a sufficient earth connection for a component of the electrical power system", explains the American aircraft manufacturer in a press release.

In a circuit, earth is used to prevent a possible electrical overload when the device is poorly insulated.

The number of devices affected, as well as the identity of the customers, was not specified.

Some 450 Boeing 737 MAX have been delivered to 49 airlines and lessors since this model entered service.

More than 400 other aircraft are currently in Boeing parking lots, unable to be delivered while the plane was grounded.

The aircraft manufacturer will not have finished selling them to its customers until 2022.

Boeing indicates that it is warning its customers of the precisely affected planes.

"We will provide them with instructions on the appropriate corrective measures," he added, without mentioning a deadline.

- Still banned from flying in China -

He also says he is working "closely" with the US air force, the FAA, on the problem.

The 737 MAX, a new version of the legendary medium-haul released in 1967, plunged the aircraft manufacturer into one of the most serious crises in its history, tarnishing its reputation for quality and costing it billions of dollars.

The plane was banned from flying in March 2019 after two accidents that killed 346, that of a Lion Air aircraft in Indonesia in October 2018 (189 dead) and that of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft in March 2019. in Ethiopia (157 dead).

The accidents highlighted a flaw in the MCAS flight control software.

Each time, it was after having received erroneous information from one of the two AOA angle of attack probes, indicating that the aircraft was in stall, that the MCAS had run away despite the pilots' efforts to deactivate it, and had pitched the plane.

The device was cleared for flight again in November in the United States, then in most parts of the world, after modifications to this software, repositioning of some cables and re-training of the pilots.

It is, however, still grounded in China, where 81,737 MAX have been delivered.

Doubts over the aircraft's reliability had led many airlines to cancel their orders, accounting for 641 MAX in 2020.

However, the device has seen a comeback in recent weeks with its customers, the investment company 777 Partners ordering 24 devices and the American giant SouthWest Arilines 100 copies.

© 2021 AFP