Airlines in the US are preparing to get their Boeing Co 737 MAXs ready for commercial flights after regulators lifted a 20-month grounding.
American Airlines Group Inc is poised to be the first carrier to bring back the MAX since the flying ban began in March last year.
The company on Wednesday said that it is planning to start operating the plane from Dec. 29 on services between Miami and New York, but took pains to say that passengers would not have to ride on Boeing’s best-selling jet if they do not want to.
Photo: Reuters
“Our customers will be able to easily identify whether they are traveling on one even if schedules change,” American Airlines said in a message to employees. “If a customer prefers to not fly on this aircraft, we’ll provide flexibility to ensure they can be easily re-accommodated.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set out detailed requirements that MAX operators must complete, including software changes to a system linked to two fatal crashes and maintenance procedures needed to bring the jets out of storage.
About 1,000 hours of work must be done on each MAX before it flies again, said United Airlines Holdings Inc, which anticipates carrying passengers on the aircraft in the first quarter of next year.
Still unknown is the reaction of the flying public to the return of a jetliner that is meant to become a workhorse of the global fleet, alongside Airbus SE’s A320neo family.
Two Boeing MAX crashes — one off Indonesia more than two years ago and another in Ethiopia early last year — between them killed 346 people and prompted the grounding.
American Airlines said that it would conduct non-revenue flights next month before returning the MAX to commercial service.
At Southwest Airlines Co, the largest MAX operator, chief executive officer Gary Kelly said that he and other company leaders would fly on the carrier’s MAX jets before any customers do.
Southwest is confident in Boeing’s fixes, Kelly said in a message to employees.
He also highlighted the need for “thousands of hours of work, inspections and the software updates before any of our customers board a Southwest 737 MAX.”
The Dallas, Texas-based carrier said that it would not carry commercial passengers on the planes until the second quarter of next year.
Southwest said it flew almost 40,000 MAX flights and more than 89,000 flight hours before the grounding.
Alaska Air Group Inc said that it would take delivery of its first MAX in January, a key consideration for Boeing as the planemaker seeks to unlock billions of dollars in cash by handing over about 450 jets built during the grounding.
Pilots at Alaska Air would get eight hours of simulator training, and the Seattle-based company would fly the MAX 36,000km and 50 hours before entering service in March.
“We have high expectations and confidence that Boeing has made the required changes and necessary improvements to the MAX,” the carrier said in an e-mail. “With these enhancements and the FAA’s thorough inspection processes, this aircraft will meet the high safety standards we expect.”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS