West Link Airlines News
American Airlines has become the first United States airline to resume Boeing 737 MAX flights following the FAA’s recertification of the aircraft last month. The aircraft took off from Miami. It will fly to La Guardia before returning to Miami later today. While the FAA was the first aviation authority to recertify the Boeing 737 MAX having issued its type certificate, a US airline was not the first to return the type to service. GOL in Brazil was the first airline to resume MAX flights, followed by Aeromexico.
Resuming MAX flights
With the departure of American Airlines flight 718, the carrier became the first to resume flights with the 737 MAX in the United States. The 737 MAX, registered as N314RH, departed Miami at 10:40. With a scheduled departure time of 10:32, the aircraft is scheduled to land in New York’s La Guardia Airport at 13:30. According to data from FlightRadar24.com, it is currently estimated to arrive at 13:06.
Many passengers also can’t tell the difference between a Boeing 737-800, an aircraft that wasn’t grounded, and the 737 MAX 8, which was the focus of the recertification. American Airlines currently operates around 300 737-800s while it has around 30 737 MAX 8s.
Still, the public campaign to bring the 737 MAX back into service can only help build confidence in a traveling community that’s still recovering from both this affair and the COVID-19 pandemic.
American’s 737 MAX service kicks off on December 29th and will slowly expand largely out of Miami through January. United, which also operates the 737 MAX, plans to launch service on the aircraft in the first quarter of 2021 while Southwest, the other big operator of the aircraft in the United States, plans its own relaunch in the second quarter.
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