Since the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX was lifted in November 2020, the airplane has made a strident return to the fleets of dozens of airlines around the globe.
Getting airborne again from 2020
It was cleared to resume service (subject to changes and training) in November 2020. The Canadian and European regulators cleared it in January 2021. Flights resumed in December 2020, with American Airlines making a demonstration trip.
After manufacturing issues led to two incidents in 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded across the world. In 2021, after rigorous testing, Civil Aviation Authorities in many places in the world cleared the Boeing 737 MAX to fly again, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil, and the EU.
The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia but has returned to service around the world with the exception of China and Russia after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training. Foreign airlines began flying the 737 MAX to China in October 2022.
The Boeing 737 MAX has had its fair share of troubles since it entered service but has been safely flying since December 2020, with hundreds of units in the sky every day.
2022. Even though no longer grounded, the CAAC has still not given a date when Chinese operators of the 737 MAX can resume passenger service. This Air China MAX 8, registered as B-1225, was seen at Beijing Capital International Airport on 11 March 2019, the day after the crash of Ethiopian 302.
954 active units. The majority of active Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are of the -8 variant. The remaining crop is split between the 737 8-200 (currently only flown by the Ryanair Group) and the MAX 9. With 711 examples across 54 carriers, the mid-sized -8 variant far overshadows the larger -9 and the higher capacity -8-200 ...
Boeing and its 180-seat 737 MAX have been dealt a hammer blow after long-time customer Qantas abandoned the Seattle aerospace giant in favour of Europe's Airbus and its A320neo family of narrow-body jets as part of its Project Winton fleet refurbishment.
The move away from the MAX name has been a subtle process and Boeing has begun to use the name 737 MAX and 737-8(7 through 10) interchangeably. This way they are transitioning away from the MAX name toward the normal naming convention of modern Boeing aircraft.
“The 737 MAX fleet has operated for 1.8 million flight hours – about 800,000 flights – since November 2020. Fleet reliability is above 99.5% - that is actually where the Next-Generation 737 was at, so it's on par with the airplane it's replaced.” Schedule reliability of 99.5% is an impressive number indeed.
The low-cost carrier currently holds the -700, -800, and MAX 8 variants of the 737. According to Planespotters.net, this fleet has an average age of 12.4 years. It is the latter two variants that keep this number low. The -800s have an average age of 5 years, while the MAX 8s have an average of just 2.5 years.
After requiring Boeing to institute new MCAS training and certain design changes, the FAA eventually cleared Boeing 737 Max's return to the skies by the end of 2020 — in October 2022, Alaska Airlines (ALK) - Get Free Report committed to buying 52 Boeing 737 Max planes for delivery between 2024 and 2027.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency have approved the MAX as safe to fly passengers.
Boeing has told a US court it was not guilty of concealing information about flight control systems on its 737 Max aircraft, which led to two crashes, killing 346 people. Flaws in the systems were found to have led to the accidents, but Boeing avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn (£1.8bn).
After a 20-month review that included design and software changes as well as enhanced training, the FAA agreed in late 2020 to allow the plane to fly again. Airlines around the world began returning them to service last year, though they remain grounded in some countries, most notably China.
The next largest variant of the Boeing 737 MAX series is the popular MAX 8, which clocks in at 39.47 meters (129 feet and 6 inches) long. Meanwhile, the 737 MAX 9 is the second-largest at 42.1 meters (138 feet and 1.5 inches) long.
The Max 8 is nearly 130 feet long and the Max 10 will be 143 feet. 8 inches long. The new Max 10 has the characteristic of other long-fuselage such as the 757-300 and rival Airbus' old A340-600 (one of the longest aircraft in history) and A321.
The 737-800 is a member of the Next Generation family, and is itself the most produced of the Next Gen models, with nearly 5,000 civilian deliveries between 1998 and 2019. Among the 737 MAX family, the 737 MAX 8 is the 737-800's most direct replacement, although 787-800s are still widely operated.
A new era is coming for Virgin Australia as it has taken delivery of the first of its new aircraft, the latest in the Boeing 737 MAX family.
At present, Bonza is the only Australian carrier to be operating 737 MAX planes, which comprise its entire fleet – Rex operates 737-800s, many of which are ex-Virgin, while Qantas, in late 2021, opted not to place an order for the 737 MAX, instead going with rival Airbus for new A220 and A320 aircraft.
Australians will soon be able to fly a second airline operating the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The first Australian airline to operate the MAX was Bonza when it launched services in January, and now the second, Virgin Australia, is on the brink of bringing its 737-8 home.
Because of the sheer intensity of the scrutiny the aircraft faced, the Boeing 737 MAX could be considered one of the safest in the world. In fact, among the dozens of models of commercial airliners around the world, it is likely the safest due to the amount of regulation testing that took place.
Nearly 1,100 MAX aircraft have now flown over 4.6 million flight hours and over 1.8 million flights.