From Monday, Macau has joined the group of countries and regions accepting flight applications involving the once-troubled Boeing B737 MAX aircraft, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (AACM) announced.
According to a statement from the local aviation authority, the AACM has “reviewed the mitigating actions taken by the Boeing company to improve the systems of the B737 MAX aircraft in both the airworthiness and operational aspects, and having analyzed the airworthiness directives published by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), accepts that the B737 MAX aircraft has met the conditions for the return to service.” The AACM added that, as a result, “the authority has resumed the acceptance of flight applications with the aircraft model.”
The two models (737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9) from the American manufacturer had been grounded and suspended from flights to and from Macau for an indefinite period since March 13, 2019, following two accidents involving these aircraft occurring in 2018 and 2019, in line with similar safety precautions taken by aeronautical authorities worldwide.
The AACM now says that, taking into account “modifications to the aircraft design, the revision of crew procedures, and flight crew training,” the same aeronautical authorities have started gradually lifting bans on the aircraft, in close cooperation with and under supervision from the FAA.
Among the areas noted as more important changes were the updating of the flight control computer software, the revision of the checklists for abnormal situations, and the revision of the flight crew training program to ensure that pilots are well-trained for operations.
Concurrently, the AACM, in line with the CAAC and the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, has undertaken a group evaluation of the B737 MAX aiming at its return to service.
In the same statement, the AACM also noted that Boeing, CAAC, FAA and EASA conducted several validation flight tests on B737 MAX aircrafts which resulted in confirmation that the safety issues previously identified with the aircraft had been cleared.
Following the validation flights, the three authorities published their airworthiness directives approving the return to service of the B737 MAX aircraft, a decision now followed by the AACM.
Among the primary users of the B737 MAX is the Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines Company.
The B737 MAX had been grounded worldwide due to recurring failures in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System which was said to be the cause of two fatal accidents involving Indonesian airliner Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
The two crashes led to the deaths of 346 people and, subsequently, the decision to ground the aircraft worldwide from March 2019 to November 2020.
Investigations pointed to an attempt by Boeing to cover up a known defect. The company was then charged with fraud, having settled with a payout of over MOP20 billion (USD2.5 billion) in penalties and compensation.
On November 18, 2020, the FAA cleared the B737 MAX to resume service, subject to a set of mandated design and training changes. Transport Canada and the EASA both recertified the aircraft a year ago, subject to additional requirements. The CAAC followed suit in early December last year.
Of the 195 countries and regions that had grounded the planes, over 180 have already lifted the sanction.
