China says Boeing 737 MAX planes are flyable after allaying safety concerns

Beijing was the first of the countries to land Boeing planes after the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019 that killed all 157 passengers and crew members, five months after another Boeing jet went down in Indonesia, all 189 people. died.

But the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) document seen by AFP concluded that “after making an adequate assessment, the CAAC considers corrective action sufficient to address this unsafe situation.”

In the Airworthiness Directive, the CAAC stated that Boeing had addressed the aircraft’s design and “unsafe conditions”.

The aviation authority instructed airlines on necessary modifications – mainly to safety protocols – before the aircraft could be returned to service.

The directive means there are no longer regulatory hurdles for the return of the Boeing 737 MAX to China, although it was unclear when flights would resume immediately.

“The CAAC’s decision marks an important milestone toward safely returning the 737 MAX for service in China,” Boeing in China said in a statement to AFP.

“Boeing continues to work with regulators and our customers to return the airplane to service around the world,” it said.

China is the last major travel market to put planes back into use after the United States and Europe allowed the model to return to the skies last year.

At the time of the grounding, a dozen Chinese carriers had aircraft in their fleets – almost a quarter of all such jets in operation around the world, according to data from the state-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission, which manages large state-run carriers. take care of.