So there have been a few developments.
- FAA said there is no way in hell Max 8 will be flying in 2019. This should not have been a surprise to anybody. I would hope Boeing continuing to stick by their timeline of flying in 2019 was more about propping up the stock than actually believing that timeframe was possible.
- Max 8 production pauses in January. I'm not sure if this is because they are out of money to tie up in inventory or if they are out of places to store the mostly finished planes. That plant employs 12,000 people who will not be working, but will not be laid off as Boeing needs them back. The suppliers on the other hand will probably have a temporary bloodbath as they don't have such deep pockets to employ an entire workforce that isn't working.
- A Transport Canada official sent correspondence that the Max 8 should not fly again with MCAS. After some scrambling and probably more than a few angry political phone calls, higher ups said roughly "that was a working level discussion that we do not have the political will to enforce so pay no attention to it"
- Boeings arrogance has also affected the 787. To protect the fuel tank during lightning strikes, the original design has an insulating layer, then a metal shield layer, then the tank. As a running change, Boeing pulled the insulating layer. Then since, they got away with that, they pulled the metal layer. FAA experts raised serious concerns as Boeing had not done the required studies to prove this was safe. FAA brass rubber stamped the change.
- A supplier formally notified Boeing that there was a problem with a component in the wings and it may not meet the required strength. Boeing installed the parts anyway and got the FAA to sign off on the planes with known bad parts while telling the FAA that there were no known deficiencies in the completed planes. The FAA wants to fine them $4,000,000 for this. &%&%*&%. The fine should be $4,000,000,000. They knowingly lied to FAA inspectors about safety critical components. The fine has to be 1000x worse than any potential benefit if you want it to have any effect.