Chinese authorities cleared the Boeing 737 MAX to resume service on Thursday, according to a government directive seen by AFP, a long-awaited step in the aircraft’s comeback following two fatal crashes.
The move by the Civil Aviation Administration of China sets the stage for the jet to return to airline schedules in the country in 2022 and follows months of back and forth between Beijing and Boeing.
China is the last key travel market to bring the plane back into use after it was grounded globally in March 2019 following the second of two crashes that together claimed 346 lives.
Boeing won approval from Washington in November 2020 and from most other leading aviation authorities soon thereafter to resume service.
“After conducting sufficient assessment, CAAC consider the corrective actions are adequate to address this unsafe condition,” said a CAAC document dated December 2 and seen by AFP.
The directive means there are no remaining regulatory obstacles for the MAX to return to the skies in China, although it was not clear exactly when flights would resume.
Aviation insiders expect it will be another four to six weeks before the jets actually see service from Chinese carriers.
The additional time will be needed to provide pilot training and ensure the jets are ready for service after the lengthy time in storage.
“In Beijing, the conditions are not great for storing jets. The weather varies and can be cold, hot, humid,” said Michel Merluzeau, an analyst at AIR consultancy, who expects most jets will not see service for at least another four or five weeks.
The news lifted shares of Boeing, which cheered the decision.
“CAAC’s decision is an important milestone toward safely returning the 737 MAX to service in China,” Boeing in China said in a statement to AFP.
“Boeing continues to work with regulators and our customers to return the airplane to service worldwide,” it said.
A Boeing spokeswoman said that more than 180 of 195 countries have now allowed the MAX to return to service.
Uncertainty about China’s timing for approving the 737 MAX have contributed to Boeing’s travails in recent months. Company executives have urged Washington to work to improve trade relations with Beijing, a crucial market for aviation growth.
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China was the first among a slew of countries to ground Boeing planes after an Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019 killed all 157 passengers and crew on board, only five months after another MAX jet went down in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
Investigators said a main cause of both crashes was a faulty flight handling system known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System or MCAS.
The system was intended to avert stalling, but pilots in the two crashes were unable to regain control of the plane after it repeatedly malfunctioned, “finally resulting in the airplane loss of control,” as CAAC put it.
The CAAC required upgrades to planes, including installing new software programs to address the defect and to update the flight manual.
At the time of grounding, a dozen Chinese carriers had the planes in their fleets — about a quarter of all such jets in operation worldwide, according to data from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission that oversees big state-run carriers.
Boeing shares rose 2.5 percent to $192.99 in mid-morning trading.
