After nearly three years, Hong Kong is permitting airline operators to resume operations with the Boeing B737 MAX aircraft in the city’s airspace. The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) in Hong Kong issued a directive on Friday, lifting its ban on the narrowbody model.
The MAX back in Hong Kong
Almost all countries have recertified the Boeing 737 MAX model by this time, following a safety scandal caused by two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. The crash of flights JT610 and ET302 by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, respectively, led to the death of 346 people.
Following the second accident (on March 10, 2019), civil aviation authorities worldwide banned the MAX from their airspaces. Boeing had to recertify the aircraft, fixing several design problems, particularly the MCAS system.
On December 9, Brazilian airline GOL was the first carrier to resume passenger service with the type, following the Federal Aviation Administration’s recertification.
Nonetheless, several countries, particularly China, have remained working on a recertification process with Boeing.
Today, Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department published a directive lifting its ban on the aircraft model. While there are zero local operators of the MAX, Hong Kong outlined several rules. Airlines that intend to fly the model in Hong Kong’s airspace and to the international airport must comply with the airworthiness directive from the FAA or a similar directive from the country where the plane was registered, said Victor Liu, the general director of CAD.
Additionally, the airline must carry a valid certificate of airworthiness meeting the standards by the Civil Aviation Organization.
The MAX in Hong Kong and China
In January 2019, only two airlines operated the Boeing 737 MAX in Hong Kong, according to data provided by Cirium. These airlines were Siberia Airlines and SpiceJet. The flights came from Novosibirsk and New Delhi, adding up to 80 flights per week and 15,568 seats available.
Nonetheless, several Chinese airlines have Boeing 737 MAX fleets currently stored and could very well use them when the time is right. According to data provided by ch-aviation, there are 97 stored MAX in China from 13 carriers. The airlines that use the model are 9 Air, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Kunming Airlines, Lucky Air, Okay Airways, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines.
In January 2019, there were 4,370 scheduled flights in China using the MAX aircraft, offering 772,708 seats available, per Cirium.
Last year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China published an airworthiness directive, setting out the actions airline operators need to resume flying the MAX. Nonetheless, the ban against the MAX flying in Chinese airspace continues.
The MAX worldwide
A few weeks ago, Ethiopian Airlines announced it would Boeing 737 MAX flights in February. This news was very positive because Ethiopian was one of the two airlines involved in the fatal crashes of 2018 and 2019.
Currently, 29 airlines have MAX flights scheduled worldwide, according to Cirium. There are 45,415 scheduled operations, a 77.9% increase compared to January 2019, prior to the second accident.
The world’s leading MAX operator is Southwest Airlines, with 8,158 flights in January, followed by Ryanair (4,678 flights), American Airlines (4,594), United Airlines (4,401), and Brazil’s GOL (4,052).
When do you expect China will recertify the Boeing 737 MAX? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: https://simpleflying.com/hong-kong-boeing-737-max-approval/
