The beleaguered Boeing 737 Max will resume services in China next year after being certified as “airworthy” by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The paperwork sets the stage for the accident-prone jet to return to China’s airline schedules following months of negotiations between Beijing and Boeing.
The decision clears the way for 100s of the best-selling US-manufactured planes to be delivered to China, removing a major impediment for Boeing. Shares of Boeing rocketed after the announcement.
CAAC announced on Friday that it “expects commercial operation of the existing domestic fleet will be resumed progressively at the end of this year or early next year”.
Despite the simmering trade tensions between the US and China, China remains one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world and an essential customer for Boeing planes.
China was the last of the world’s major travel markets to re-approve the 737 Max for flying after being grounded globally in March 2019 following two fatal crashes that together claimed 346 lives – one in Indonesia and one in Ethiopia. After the first crash Boeing laid the blame on the airline and pilots without revealing vital information about a software called MCAS, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, that was necessary to correct unintended and dangerous flight characteristics of the new model 737.
The development of the 737 Max series, the fourth generation of the 737, originally developed in the 1960s and first flown in April 1967, was a knee-jerk reaction to the popularity of a newly announced Airbus 320 NEO program (New Engine Option). American Airlines, a long-term Boeing customer, goaded Boeing with threats that they’d put in an order for the European Airbus alternative unless they could bring a competitor to market in quick time.
So, rather than developing an all new short-haul, single aisle alternative, Boeing gave the ageing 737 model a quick makeover with new, larger,…