Boeing 737 Max back in skies after two fatal crashes that killed 346

After 20 months of grounding globally in March 2019, commercial passenger flights have resumed on Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft for the first time, after Brazilian airline Gol resumed operations using the plane.

The American company’s previously bestselling airplane was given the approval to return to the skies by US regulators  US Federal Aviation Administration (FDA) in November after months of safety assessments, design upgrades, and test flights, followed by other regulators in Europe and Brazil.

Gol, reintroduced the 737 Max on routes to and from the company‘s hub in Sao Paulo, after the aircraft completed a 537 miles (864 km) flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre on Wednesday, with a journey time of one hour and 16 minutes according to Flightradar24.com.

All 189 passengers and crew onboard Lion Air Flight 610 died in October 2018 and 157 people onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 died when it crashed minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, triggering global grounding of the 737 Max fleet.

Boeing has been spending cash and cut 30, 000 jobs in recent months as it faced the double challenges of the global shutdown of aviation during the coronavirus pandemic, and the grounding of the 737 Max, which amounted to more than £15bn ( $20bn) as direct costs. Gol has seven 737 Max aircraft in its fleet and orders for a further 95 with Boeing.

Paulo Kakinoff, Gol’s CEO welcomed the return of the aircraft and a critical milestone for Boeing. He said: ”The Max is one of the most efficient aircraft in aviation history and the only one to undergo a complete recertification process, ensuring the highest levels of safety and reliability”.

American Airlines is expected to be the next operation to restart flights with the aircraft on 29 December and Ryanair, Europe biggest short-haul airline has ordered a 210 737 Max aircraft that its CEO Michael O’Leary describing as a “gamechanger”, due to their fuel efficiency.