Asia-Pacific 737 Max deliveries resume amid slow road to recertification

Fiji Airways became the first carrier in the Asia-Pacific region to take delivery of new Boeing 737 Max aircraft this year, after Fijian civil aviation authorities lifted the type’s grounding. However, the pair of new aircraft — delivered on 25 and 27 May, according to Cirium fleets data — are unlikely to fly anywhere yet, despite the airline’s key markets of Australia and New Zealand also lifting the type’s grounding. This is due largely to travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Australia, for example, has closed off international borders until 2022. Fiji itself had battled a resurgence in coronavirus cases in April, after being relatively unscathed by the global pandemic. Indeed, in explaining the paradoxical circumstances surrounding the deliveries, Fiji Airways stressed that it was “contractually obligated” to take the new jets, registered DQ-FAH and DQ-FAE. The carrier had two 737 Max 8s in storage, which it took delivery of in 2018-2019. The remaining three jets, which were in its original order of five examples, were due to be delivered in mid-2019, but had to be deferred following the Max’s global grounding. Fiji Airways chief Andre Viljoen says that when the grounding was lifted in Fiji in April, a team of airline staff, including engineers and pilots, along with Fijian civil aviation authority staff were in Boeing’s aircraft delivery centre in Seattle to commence the handover process of the two aircraft. <br/>