Boeing’s troubled 737 Max plane is expected to carry paying passengers in the skies of the United States for the first time in almost two years on Tuesday.
These passengers will board American Airlines Flight 718, scheduled to leave Miami shortly after 10:30 am and land in New York at 1:30 pm, ending a long and difficult chapter for Boeing.
Max was landed worldwide in March 2019, after 346 people died in two accidents, separated by months, in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Accidents and revelations about the plane’s shortcomings severely damaged the company’s reputation and cost tens of billions of dollars in damages, government fines and lost orders.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized by lawmakers and safety experts for doing a poor job of Max certification, last month became the first major regulator to suspend its suspension order and allow Boeing and the airlines that use Max to start making the necessary changes to fly the plane again.
The FAA has since joined regulators in Brazil. Canadian and European aviation officers are expected to follow through on approvals within weeks.
The families of those killed on board the two fatal flights argue that Max is not yet fit to fly. Last week, they said in a letter to US lawmakers that “the entire recertification process is suspect”. A Senate committee issued a blunt report this month, criticizing Boeing and the FAA for breaches of security and oversight.
Max is the flagship of the global air fleet, used for domestic and some shorter international flights. It is significantly more fuel efficient than its predecessors and, being a smaller, single-aisle aircraft, it is the type of aircraft that airlines have preferred in recent years to meet the growing demand for direct nonstop flights.
Boeing has secured some new orders for Max in recent weeks. Ryanair, the European low-cost airline, agreed to buy 75 Max jets, and Alaska Airlines extended the order to almost two dozen planes.
But Boeing’s overall order book contracted on more than 1,000 planes in 2020. And the plane’s reintroduction is likely to be slowed as airlines struggle with the deep and sustained drop in flight demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In the United States, airlines generally carry less than half of the previous year’s passengers.
American plans to use Max for daily flights between Miami International Airport and La Guardia Airport until Monday. The airline plans to increase service over the course of January, using Max for up to 36 flights departing Miami each day, according to a letter that American executives sent to employees last month. Tuesday’s flight has a capacity for 172 people, 16 in business class and the rest in economy.
United Airlines said it expects to start using Max in the first quarter of 2021. Southwest Airlines, a major Boeing customer that operates a 737 fleet, said it does not expect to fly the plane until the second quarter. Delta Air Lines does not use the plane.
It will be important for the public perception of Boeing and Max that the first few months of flights are free from major problems. Last week, Air Canada was forced to divert a Max plane that was being transferred from Marana, Arizona, to Montreal because of engine problems. The plane landed without incident in Tucson, Arizona, the airline said.
While American will be the first airline in the United States to put Max to use, Gol, a Brazilian company, became the first in the world to resume commercial operation of the plane this month.