Which US Airline Was The 1st To Operate The Boeing 737 MAX After Its Fatal Crashes?

Six years ago, Boeing was forced to ground all 737 MAX aircraft in operation. The move followed two serious air crashes, in suspiciously similar circumstances, which killed over 300 people combined. The result was the loss of tens of billions of dollars for the manufacturer, and permanent reputational damage. Many customers decided to cancel their 737 MAX orders.

The light at the end of the tunnel came for Boeing when the FAA decided to lift the grounding once it was satisfied that Boeing had made the necessary adaptations. More good news came when the aircraft took to the skies in the US again for commercial operations. In this article, we will examine the circumstances of this first post-grounding American flight and of the first overall commercial 737 MAX flight after the grounding by a lesser-known Brazilian airline.

American Airlines Flight 718

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American Airlines was the first US-based airline to conduct a 737 MAX flight with paying customers following the grounding of all jets of the type. American flight 718 took off from Miami at 10:40 in December 2020. After a short flight, the jet landed safely ahead of schedule at New York LaGuardia Airport a little after 13:00. At the time, American Airlines was preparing to expand its 737 MAX fleet to 34 jets, and had trained 1,400 pilots to operate the aircraft.

Top brass at AA were keen to brush away any concerns. CNN reported that its president, Robert Isom, said that “the aircraft is ready to go… [it] is much more efficient. It’s much greener. It’s a new plane that ought to be flying, and other aircraft ought to be left at home right now.” Likewise, AA’S COO David Seymour said that “it’s not rushed. Everything we do at American is all surrounded by safety. We’re not going to do anything that’s unsafe. All of our actions, all of our decisions, are based on that.”

Victims of 737 MAX crashes urged caution, and Zipporah Kuria, who lost her father on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, called a 737 MAX flight a “one-way ticket.” The commercial flight followed an invite-only Boeing 737 MAX sample flight. Seats were reserved for the airline’s employees and for reporters.

American Airlines Wasn’t The World’s First Airline To Return The 737 MAX To Service

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AA’s first post-grounding commercial MAX flight came over a month after the Federal Aviation Administrationcleared the jet for service, and other airlines outside of the US were quicker off the mark to get the plane making money again. The first was the Brazilian airline GOL Linhas Aéreas, which operates a 737-only fleet including the -700, -800, -8 MAX, and -800 BCF.

The flight, conducted in early December, was from São Paulo to Porto Alegre, and followed the airline getting 140 of its pilots trained to fly the jet. At the time, GOL was Brazil’s largest domestic airline, owning seven 737 MAX 8s intended for use on 27 commercial routes. The table below shows the specifications that GOL lists for its 737 MAX 8.

GOL’s VP of Operations, Celso Ferrer, said he had full confidence in the 737 MAX’s safety. According to the BBC, he explained that “for the past 20 months, we have been carrying out the most intensive safety review in the history of commercial aviation. Safety comes first and foremost.”

However, GOL did acknowledge that some passengers would be uncomfortable flying on the aircraft, and a spokesperson revealed a policy to allow passengers to reschedule to a non-MAX flight. They said that “they will be able to reschedule the trip without fees or fare difference, maintaining the same origin and destination, within the validity period for the ticket, which is 12 months from the date of purchase.”

The FAA’s Seal Of Approval

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GOL and American Airlines’ return of the 737 MAX to the skies was allowed to occur because the FAA concluded that the extensive modifications and safety improvements made to the 737 MAX during its 20-month grounding were enough to ensure that the aircraft could run safely. The return to service was conditional on the fulfillment of a 115-page directive on design changes that had to be executed alongside further training and maintenance requirements for airlines.

NPR reported that the FAA’s administrator, Steve Dickinson, said: “This airplane has undergone an unprecedented level of scrutiny by the FAA. We have not left anything to chance here.” Dickinson himself, a former Delta Air Lines pilot and executive, had previously promised that he would not re-certify the 737 MAX until he had flown it himself. This flight occurred on September 30, 2020. He took off from Boeing Field in Seattle, put the jet through its paces, and then landed successfully.

Crucially, the 737 MAX also had the backing of the Air Line Pilots Association. The body represents pilots, and these were the people who had to be confident in the aircraft, as they had to fly it. The body explained in a statement that the 737 MAX’s engineering fixes to the most critical systems were sufficient to allow for safe operations.​​​​​

Why Was The 737 MAX Grounded In The First Place?

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The mandatory grounding of hundreds of 737 MAX jets followed two severe and tragic air disasters. Lion Air flight 610 crashed shortly after taking off from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. In both cases, all people aboard died. Then, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed in March 2019 after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Both crashes were extremely similar, triggering detailed investigations. It was found that issues with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) were to blame, a system that pushes the nose down to help avoid a stall and was added to counteract the 737 MAX’s tendency to pitch up due to the large engine’s location. These sensors were misreading, and pilots had not been adequately trained on how to respond.

The issue was reflected in the final NTSB report. It stated that “the specific failure modes that could lead to unintended MCAS activation (such as an erroneous high AOA [Angle of Attack] input to the MCAS) were not simulated as part of these functional hazard assessment validation tests.”

The Cost Of The Groundings

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With the American Airlines 737 MAX taking to the skies and full FAA approval, Boeing could begin to get the 737 MAX program back on track. However, the difficulties were not over for what CNN referred to as “the most expensive corporate blunder ever.”

Firstly, Boeing’s customers began to sue it for the vast amount of lost revenue. Of the $20 billion of costs incurred by Boeing due to the groundings, $8.6 billion was in compensation to airlines (not including compensation to the crash victims’ families).

Boeing also had to deal with a staggering number of lost orders. Before the accidents, Boeing had achieved 5,000 orders for the 737 MAX. Following the plane crashes and groundings, the manufacturer lost 93 orders in 2019 and 641 in 2020. One of the largest firms to turn away from the 737 MAX was the leasing company Avolon, which canceled 75 MAX orders. All these canceled orders, which totaled around 1,200, led to Boeing incurring $60 billion of indirect losses.

What Does The Future Hold For The 737 MAX?

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Simple Flying has reported that Boeing (and Airbus) will not be launching any further commercial airliners in the near future. As such, it is feasible that Boeing will be developing and manufacturing derivatives of the 737 MAX well into the 2030s. This means the main task for Boeing as it relates to the narrowbody jet is to make a dent in the enormous backlog. Currently, Boeing’s orders and deliveries figures reveal that the manufacturer has received 6,782 orders, but delivered just 1,965 737 MAXs.

Airlines that made the largest 737 MAX orders have been the worst hit. Southwest Airlines has ordered 691 737 MAXs but received 254. The Indian low-cost airline Akasa Air is also notable for having ordered 206 737 MAXs, but received 10.

To rectify this issue, Boeing has made plans to increase its production of 737 MAX aircraft to 42 jets a month. It is currently capped at 38 per month. However, Boeing still needs FAA approval for this cap to be lifted. Increased scrutiny has come after the early 2024 Alaska Airlines door plug incident. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said that “progress is being made. It may not be as fast as Boeing would like, but it is as fast as we can reasonably move through the process.”