Boeing 737 Max fears have not affected bookings – so far

Four weeks after the Boeing 737 Max was brought back into commercial service, passengers appear content to fly on the plane. The aircraft was grounded for 20 months following two fatal crashes that cost a total of 346 lives. Both accidents were caused by a faulty anti-stall system known as MCAS that forced the nose of the plane down despite the pilots’ best efforts to save the aircraft. Boeing has made substantial changes to the system and added extra training. Regulators have approved the Boeing 737 Max for passenger service in the US, Europe and Brazil. Gol, the Brazilian airline that first brought back the jet to service on 9 December, has just announced passenger numbers one-third higher than for November. While the figure also covers earlier variants of the 737, which make up a large proportion of the Gol fleet, there has been no apparent resistance to flying on the Max. The load factor (proportion of seats occupied) for December was 81%, just 1% down from the same month in 2019, though with around one-third fewer flights.<br/>