Boeing’s 737 Max prepares for long haul to recovery

Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary is fond of superlatives, so there was no shortage of them when he placed a $7bn order for 75 of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft last week. “This is not just a safe aircraft . . . It is the safest, most audited, most regulated aircraft that has ever been delivered in the history of civil aviation,” he declared, as he signed the biggest firm order for the ill-starred passenger jet since it was grounded after two fatal crashes 20 months ago. The deal was not the only good news for Boeing, whose credibility is on the line after failures in the Max programme led to the deaths of 346 people.  Safety regulators in the US have begun to issue the first airworthiness certificates to individual aircraft, launching what is expected to be a steady return to service of more than 800 passenger jets that had been parked since authorities banned the Max from the skies in March 2019. Gol, the Brazilian airline, told the Financial Times that “a very important milestone” had been passed, as it became the first airline to resume commercial 737 Max flights on Wednesday. The return of the Max not only begins to close a dire chapter in Boeing’s history, it reignites competition in the hottest segment of the aviation market. Boeing’s European rival Airbus has been virtually unchallenged in the market for single-aisle aircraft since the Max was grounded. “That is important for the industry,” said Aengus Kelly, CE of one of the world’s biggest purchasers of aircraft, the leasing company, AerCap. “We have to have competition. We can’t have a situation where one manufacturer has so much market share that the other one is irrelevant.” Story has more.<br/>