Two years after a global grounding, airlines are quickly bringing 737 Max jets back into service

Two years after a 737 Max system failure led to fatal crashes, airlines are rapidly bringing the Boeing jet back into service. On Thursday, Southwest, which owns more of the jets than any other carrier, will become the 15th airline to fly the plane since the grounding was lifted in November. All 737 Max planes were grounded world-wide in March of 2019 after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 — the second fatal crash in five months involving the jet. The two crashes killed everyone on board, a total of 346 people.<br/>Boeing insists that 20 months of investigation, improvements and review by the Federal Aviation Administration has made the plane as safe or safer than any other. But critics — including family members of those killed — disagree. There have so far been more than 9,000 passenger flights aboard the aircraft since the grounding was lifted, according to Boeing. Brazilian carrier GOL and American Airlines became the first carriers to fly passengers on a 737 Max in December. American has used the plane on more than 400 flights, more than any other airline, according to Cirium, which tracks passenger jet usage.<br/>"Bookings on the Max are comparable to other aircraft, and we aren't seeing data to suggest customers don't want to fly the aircraft," said a spokesman for American.<br/>