Europe regulator says ‘hopefully converging’ with Boeing on 777X

(Reuters) – Boeing and European regulators are “hopefully converging” in talks over design requirements for the future 777X airliner, the head of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Tuesday.

The agency has been seen at odds with Boeing for more than a year over changes that it wants to see in the flight controls of the latest version of the 777 – one of the factors contributing to a cumulative five-year delay, according to industry sources.

“We are hopefully converging,” Ky told Reuters when asked about the progress of ongoing discussions on the 777X.

Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(This story has been corrected to add dropped word ‘Union’ in the agency title in the first paragraph.)

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Additional reporting by Valerie Insinna, David Shepardson; Editing by MarkPotter)