China Southern Airlines launches flights on deadly Boeing 737 MAX
2023.01.11 03:50
China Southern Airlines launches flights on deadly Boeing 737 MAX
Budrigannews.com – Two Boeings have been scheduled by China Southern Airlines (NYSE: 737 MAX flights scheduled for Friday, according to its mobile app, would be the first commercial services for the model provided by a Chinese airline since its grounding in March 2019.
The app indicated that the scheduled flights are domestic journeys between Guangzhou in the south and Zhengzhou and Wuhan in the north.
Additionally, China Southern had initially scheduled the 737 MAX’s return to commercial service for October 2022, but it was not utilized on the scheduled flights.
China Southern did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Boeing stated that it would defer to airlines for comments regarding flight operations.
After fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in March 2019, the 737 MAX was grounded. However, after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training, the aircraft has returned to service all over the world, with the exception of China and Russia.
In October 2022, foreign airlines began flying the 737 MAX to China.
Cirium data from 2019 show that Chinese airlines had 97 of the planes before they were grounded.
In October, Boeing stated that it had begun remarketing the 138 planes it had manufactured for Chinese airlines to other airlines because there were no clear indications that Chinese airlines would accept the aircraft in the near future. However, the planes were still in the United States and were awaiting delivery.
After the country recently ended its zero-COVID policy, China’s domestic aviation market, which was depressed in 2022 due to sporadic lockdowns to stop COVID-19 outbreaks, has begun to recover strongly.
During the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, China anticipates that the total number of passenger trips by road, rail, water, and air will reach 2.1 billion this year—double last year’s figure of 1.05 billion.
