ABOARD MAX: More than 20 months after it was grounded following two deadly crashes, Boeing’s 737 MAX returned to the skies on Wednesday with an incident-free commercial flight in Brazil.

Low-cost airline Gol’s flight 4104 from Sao Paulo arrived safely in the southern city of Porto Alegre about 70 minutes after takeoff, in a first that Boeing hopes will turn the page on a badly damaging crisis.

Most passengers aboard the 88-percent booked, 186-seat plane took little notice of the model number painted on its nose.

Gol’s crew for their part made no mention of the fact that it was the first commercial flight for the 737 MAX since its worldwide grounding in March last year.

“I thought it was a good flight,” said passenger Naiara Providello.

“I didn’t know the plane’s history. I think maybe they should have informed us. But it was a good flight.” “Good to know,” another passenger said when told by a journalist pre-flight that the revamped plane was making its commercial debut.

“If it’s here, that must mean it’s safe, right?” said the man, as passengers began embarking to the soothing sounds of Brazilian bossa nova music.

Safety first

Gol said it was fully confident in the safety upgrades and expanded pilot training programme implemented by Boeing as part of aviation regulators’ conditions to recertify the plane.

“For the past 20 months, we have been carrying out the most intensive safety review in the history of commercial aviation,” Gol’s vice president for operations, Celso Ferrer, said in a statement.

“Safety comes first and foremost.”

A Gol spokesman said any passenger who did not feel comfortable flying on the 737 MAX would be allowed to reschedule at no cost. Gol, the biggest domestic airline in Brazil, said it expected to have its full fleet of seven 737 MAX planes back in the air by the end of the month.

The airline, which currently has 127 planes in all, is betting big on Boeing’s recovery: it has 20 more 737 MAX in the US awaiting delivery, and has confirmed orders for another 95.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2020