Tag: 737 MAX

Flydubai to Return 737 MAXs to Service April 8

Bloomberg reports that Flydubai said that it plans to return its Boeing 737 MAX jets to service April 8. The airline “idled 14 Boeing Max jets in March 2019, when the model was grounded worldwide in the wake of a second deadly crash in five months. The low-cost carrier has ordered 251 Max jets as it pursues an aggressive regional expansion.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)

Chinese Airlines Give Indication of Future of 737 Max

FlightGlobal reports that China Eastern Airlines expects that deliveries of the Boeing 737 MAX will resume from 2023 – “even while it works with the airframer to return the aircraft to service.” According to fleet plans included in its full-year results for 2020, the airline indicated that it expects to introduce 46 737 MAX aircraft in 2023. The variant of the aircraft was not included. However, “the carrier had previously disclosed in its 2019 annual results that it expected to take up to 46 737 Max aircraft between 2020 and 2021, but that these had to be deferred indefinitely following the type’s global grounding.” Compatriot Air China likely will not take on any 737 MAX aircraft in the near future, but Air China is operating 16 737 Max 8s and has ordered another 13. Shenzhen Airlines “has another 10 examples on order, and five in storage, according to Cirium fleets data.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)

Ryanair CEO Expects FAA to Certify Boeing 737 Max 200 This Week

Aviation International News reports that Ryanair hopes the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “will finalize the licensing process of the Boeing 737 Max 200 in the coming days, paving the way for Europe’s largest LCC to finally take delivery of its first example in April.” Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said during an online press conference Wednesday, “We hope that the [Max] 8-200 will be certified by the FAA sometime later this week and then by EASA later this week or early next week.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

FAA Utilizes ADS-B Flight Data from Aireon to Follow All 737 MAX Flights

Bloomberg reported that the FAA “is using a network of satellites” to follow all Boeing 737 Max “flights around the world,” as the agency monitors “the plane after its 20-month grounding.” The network, “provided by Virginia-based Aireon LLC,” is “capable of tracking planes in even the most remote regions as if they were under surveillance by local radars.” Aireon is watching “Max flights for unusual events, such as rapid descents, said Vincent Capezzuto, the company’s chief technology officer.” It began monitoring 737 Max flights January 29.
Full Story (Bloomberg)

Canada to Lift Grounding of Boeing 737 MAX

Reuters reports that Transport Canada announced that it would end the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX on January 20. The regulator “also said in a release that it had issued an airworthiness directive to aircraft owners, aircraft maintenance engineers and foreign civil aviation authorities, along with an interim order that outlines requirements for airlines on additional crew training.” Air Canada announced that it would resume flights of the 737 MAX on February 1.
Full Story (Reuters)

Ryanair to Begin Deploying 737 MAX Aircraft In UK Following Deliveries

Reuters reports that Ryanair “plans to begin deploying its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the United Kingdom following its first deliveries in the coming months, CEO Eddie Wilson said on Thursday.” The airline “has said it expects to receive around 30 of the MAX aircraft, which were ungrounded in the United States late last year after a 20-month safety ban that followed two fatal crashes.”
Full Story (Reuters)

Brazil’s Gol to be First Airline to Fly Passengers on 737 MAX

Reuters reports that Brazil’s Gol will start passenger flights on the Boeing 737 MAX on Wednesday. Bloomberg reports that the airline has “trained 140 of its pilots in the U.S., using simulator sessions and a new curriculum approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and ANAC, Brazil’s regulator, in the wake of two fatal Max crashes.” American Airlines is scheduled to be the first US airline to operate passenger flights on the jet when it begins flying between Miami and New York later this month.
Full Story (Bloomberg)

EASA Chief: 737 MAX “Likely” to Receive Approval to Fly “In January”

Reuters reported that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency “is set to lift its flight ban on the Boeing 737 MAX passenger jetliner in January after U.S. regulators last week ended a 20-month grounding triggered by two fatal crashes.” On Saturday, EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky said, “We wanted to carry out a totally independent analysis of the safety of this aircraft, so we performed our own checks and flight tests. All these studies tell us that the 737 MAX can return to service. We have started to put in place all the measures.” Ky continued, “It is likely that in our case we will adopt the decisions, allowing it to return to service, some time in January.” EASA will likely publish a draft “directive proposing to end the grounding in Europe…next week, followed by a 30-day comment period.”
Full Story (Reuters)

737 Max Cleared to Fly by FAA

The Washington Post reports that on Wednesday, the FAA lifted its ban on Boeing’s 737 Max, “20 months after the aircraft was grounded following two crashes within five months that killed 346 people.” The ruling confirms the FAA’s satisfaction with “software and other fixes, and new pilot training,” and that the aircraft is safe to fly again. Grounded worldwide on March 13, 2019, the FAA said “it brought unparalleled scrutiny to the Max this time,” and that the agency can “assure the global community that the 737 MAX is safe to operate.” Even with Wednesday’s ruling, it is still expected to take several weeks “before the first Max jets return to the skies.”
Full Story (The Washington Post)