SIA to ‘progressively’ bring 737 Max fleet out of desert

Singapore Airlines will “progressively” return four remaining Boeing 737 Max aircraft to Singapore from storage in Australia, as a cabin retrofit programme gets underway for the type. The carrier disclosed this following the completion of a test flight of a SIA 737 Max from Singapore — apparently its first such flight from the city state since its grounding two years ago. On 11 March, the 737 Max 8 registered 9V-MBA took off on a test flight from Singapore. Data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft, operating flight MI8880, flew for more than an hour, heading eastwards over the South China Sea, before returning back. It performed a go-around towards the end of the flight and then came in to land at around 12.40 local time. SIA says: “This was a post-modification test flight, conducted after the installation of a communications antenna related to the aircraft’s cabin retrofit programme.” 9V-MBA was the first 737 Max 8 to be delivered to SilkAir, SIA’s regional brand that is being integrated into mainline operations. The aircraft returned to Singapore from storage in Alice Springs in late-December. SIA says there are now two 737 Max aircraft already back in Singapore, and it would be returning the rest “progressively”.<br/>