Boeing 737 Max has received its first airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), thus ending its 20-month-old grounding order since March 2019 following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
The FAA’s airworthiness certificate authorizes the aircraft to fly. Each new 737 MAX built since the grounding order needs an airworthiness certificate. There were nearly 400 737 MAX jets in service at the time of their grounding and Boeing has built about 450 more that are waiting to be delivered to airlines.
Furthermore, each U.S. airline will also need the FAA to approve its 737 MAX pilot training program in order to return the jets to service.
The FAA separately last week approved an American Airlines training plan for pilots to resume 737 MAX flights, with plans to resume MAX flights starting Dec. 29 once it completes required tests and software upgrades to parked planes. United Airlines expects to return its MAX jets to service sometime in the first quarter of 2021, initially flying out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Denver International Airport.
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