Canada’s transport ministry on Monday said that it has approved the Boeing Co 737 MAX to fly again in the country from today, ending a nearly two-year grounding following two deadly crashes.
After a review of design changes and additional pilot training for the jetliner, Transport Canada said in a statement that it “will lift the existing Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) which prohibits commercial operation of the aircraft in Canadian airspace on January 20, 2021.”
“This will allow for the return to service of the aircraft in Canada,” it said.
Photo: Reuters
Canadian airlines, it added, are expected to be ready to return the aircraft to service “in the coming days and weeks.”
Canada’s No. 2 carrier WestJet Airlines Ltd has said that it plans to return its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to the skies tomorrow, after Boeing addressed technical issues and improved pilot training.
Air Canada and Sunwing Airlines Inc also have 737 MAX aircraft in their fleets.
The MAX crisis began in 2018 when one of the jets crashed in Indonesia, followed by another in March 2019 in Ethiopia, which killed 346 people and saw the aircraft taken out of service across the globe.
Brazil was the first country to allow it to return to service, starting with a domestic flight last month by Brazilian budget carrier Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, followed by American Airlines Group Inc in the US.
Separately, Air Lease Corp is considering reinstating some previously canceled 737 MAX orders, although not until more regulators clear the jet’s return, Air Lease chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said.
Los Angeles-based Air Lease, one of the world’s largest aircraft leasing firms, had committed to 195 MAX purchases as of the end of 2019, including orders, options and planes already delivered.
Then came COVID-19, which sapped demand for aircraft and led to the loss of more than 1,000 MAX orders. The jet’s extended grounding after two deadly crashes gave struggling buyers leverage to cancel purchase contracts, which are normally iron-clad.
Udvar-Hazy’s comments suggest at least a portion of the dropped orders could reappear in Boeing’s backlog, although restored purchases would likely have terms more advantageous to the airlines and lessors.
Air Lease canceled 19 MAX orders last year, while converting some to larger Boeing 787s. It has 107 unfilled orders for the single-aisle jet, the Chicago-based manufacturer’s Web site says.
Udvar-Hazy said that Air Lease expects to firm up its fleet plans by this summer, with a focus on the 737-8 and 737-9 versions of the MAX.
He said that the new total would not approach 200 jets.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS