Brazil’s GOL Airline To Resume Boeing 737 Max Flights After Two Years

Brazilian airline GOL will be the world’s first airline to fly passengers on a Boeing 737 Max in almost two years

The plane was canceled to carry passengers again by the US Federal Aviation Administration on November 18. So far Brazil is the only country with an airline controller that has taken off a passenger plane, although European and Canadian authorities are close to doing so.

The plane was grounded by international aviation authorities in March 2019 after two crashes that killed 346 people.

GOL’s Statement

GOL (GOL), Brazil’s largest airline, has said it will use the airline for flights to and from its base in São Paulo, the country’s largest city, although it has not specified a precise runway.

It said passengers would be notified that their plane would now land at 737 Max, and any passengers who did not want to fly on the plane would be exchanged for their flight tickets using other equipment.

GOL flies nothing but Boeing (BA) aircraft on its 127 jet vessels, making it a major customer of the aircraft manufacturer. It has seven of the 737 Max aircraft in their fleet. All seven are expected to return to work by the end of December. It also has orders for another 957 Max aircraft, and is scheduled to deliver those flights between 2022 and 2032.

The Flight Destination

Three U.S. aircraft owned by Max, American Airlines (AAL), United (UAL) and Southwest (LUV), have slowed down to re-operate the aircraft.

The American will be the first of three to use flights on flights between Miami and New York on December 29. United said last month it expects to start flying in the first three months of 2021. In the Southwest, with 34 jets – more than any other airline – it is not expected to fly passengers at 737 Max by the spring of 2021.

GOL Expresses Safety Confidence

GOL said it was confident that the changes made to the aircraft during its 20-month construction make it safer to fly. The safety device designed to stop the plane from taking off at high speed and to stop was responsible for compressing the nostrils of two deadly planes, causing disruption. The airplane now has additional protective sensors in false readings that could trigger that security approach.

“We are delighted with the return of the Boeing 737 Max to our network,” said GOL CEO Paulo Kakinoff. “Max is one of the most successful airlines in the history of aviation and is the only one that goes into the full process of strengthening the workforce, ensuring the highest levels of safety and reliability.

GOL also said it was conducting further training for its 140 pilots who were to fly to Max on how to deal with new flight safety systems.

“We are delighted to have a partnership with GOL in achieving this important milestone and look forward to what will happen next with our partnership,” said Landon Loomis, manager of Boeing in Brazil.

Elsewhere

This is the second major airline confidence show by the airline this month. Last week the Irish network Ryanair (RYAAY) announced that it would order another 75 737 Max aircraft in addition to the previous order of 135 737 Max aircraft.

But some airlines have canceled 565 airline orders by October 31 this year, with 448 of those cancellation orders coming this year alone. Most of the orders canceled are due to a significant drop in air travel caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, as well as the need for cost-effective flights.