Boeing’s 737 Max is being readied for a comeback. What travellers need to know

This week, Boeing completed test flights of its troubled 737 Max airplane to demonstrate that it can fly safely with new flight control software. Even as the company began testing the planes for recertification, a federal inspector general’s report said that Boeing had kept information from federal regulators about the flawed computer system that brought down two jets during the plane’s initial approval process. The Max is the most recent model of Boeing’s 737, a type of aircraft with many variants over the decades. More than 10,000 737s have been built. The Max was released in 2017 in four lengths to accommodate up to 230 seats. The Max has larger, more fuel-efficient engines than the older models. If the FAA is convinced that Boeing has corrected the problems that led to the crashes, the planes will return to service, but no timeline has been announced. The agency said that it “will lift the grounding order only after we are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.” Boeing’s CE, David Calhoun, flew on the plane in February. The head of the FAA and longtime Delta pilot, Stephen M. Dickson, told a Senate committee that he would fly the Max himself and must be satisfied that he would put his family aboard before he would lift the grounding order. Story has what travellers who might be contemplating flying again around that time need to know.<br/>