The U.S. government on Friday said Boeing can once again issue airworthiness certificates for its bestselling 737 Max aircraft and 787 Dreamliners, an authority that was stripped from the manufacturer after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 of the 737 Max.

The Federal Aviation Administration said last September that Boeing could ticket its own planes before they’re handed off to customers for only some of the Maxes and Dreamliners, alternating weeks between the FAA and Boeing doing that work.

“During the past eight months, the FAA has seen comparable production quality findings when Boeing issued airworthiness certificates and when the FAA issued them,” the agency said Friday. “Based on these results, the FAA determined it can safely return this responsibility to Boeing.”

Some 96 percent of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 voted in favor of the strike — far more than the two-thirds needed to launch the work stoppage.
“Boeing has to stop breaking the law, has to bargain in good faith, and we will be back at the table whenever we can get there to drive forward on the issues that our members say are important,” Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, told a room of machinists at the Seattle union hall.