Dated March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after departing Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, killing 157 people on board involving B737Max Aircraft, and that was the moment, the fatal accident grounded the Max aircraft for around two years.
Now, on 1st February 2022, after 2 years 10 months 21 days of the deadly crash , Ethiopian Airlines' B737 MAX Returns to the Skies with Government Officials, Boeing and Airline's Executives Onboard to regain the faith of it's customers.
The B737Max MCAS Overview.
As revealed earlier by the Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines ( Tewolde Gebre Mariam) , Ethiopian Airlines has returned its B737 MAX back to the skies today with the airline’s Board Chairman and Executives, Boeing Executives, Ministers, Ambassadors, government officials, journalists and customers onboard the first flight.
Ethiopia was the second country to witness one of it's Ethiopian B737Max aircraft to crash involving the MCAS issue, while Indonesia was the first country to witness one of it's Lion Air's B737Max aircraft to crash involving the same MCAS issue.
After witnessing the MCAS modifications, lifting of bans around the world and one year of flying activity post FAA re-certification, on 27th December 2012, Indonesia had lifted the Ban on Boeing B737 -8 (Max) aircraft with necessary modifications/conditions before release to Flight !
Commenting on the return of the B737 MAX to service, Ethiopian Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said,
“Safety is the top most priority at Ethiopian Airlines and it guides every decision we make and all actions we take. It is in line with this guiding principle that we are now returning the B737 MAX to service not only after the recertification by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), EASA of Europe, Transport Canada, CAAC, ECAA and other regulatory bodies but also after the fleet type’s return to service by 36 airlines around the world.
In line with our initially stated commitment to become among the last airlines to return the B737 MAX, we have taken enough time to monitor the design modification work and the more than 20 months of rigorous recertification process and we have ensured that our pilots, engineers, aircraft technicians and cabin crew are confident on the safety of the fleet.
The airline’s confidence is further showcased by flying the top executives and the board chairman and other top government officials on the first flight.”
The B737 MAX has accumulated more than 349,000 commercial flights and close to 900,000 total flight hours since the resumption of its operation a year ago.
A 04 Hours 07 minutes Flight (ETH9301) originating and ending at Addis Ababa (ADD) airport , Ethiopia involved ET-AVI - the 2018 built Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to conclude the Media flight and announcing the return of Max flights for Ethiopian Airlines.
Ethiopian Airlines says,
Ethiopian Airlines always follows rigorous and comprehensive processes to ensure that every plane in the sky is safe. The airline always prioritizes passengers’ safety and is confident that its customers will enjoy the onboard safety and comfort that it has been known for.
At present, Ethiopian Airlines has four 2018 built B737 MAX (ET-AVK , ET-AVI , ET-AVL, ET-AVM) in its fleet and 25 on order , some of which will be take delivered in the year 2022.
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