SpiceJet to restart B-737 Max aircraft from October, ending ban of over 2 years

India's low-cost airline SpiceJet is all set to resume Boeing-B-737 Max aircraft from the first week of October after a two-and-a-half-year long ban. "SpiceJet's Max aircraft will be back in operation from October 5, 2021 when it operates its first flight after a break of around two-and-a-half years," a SpiceJet official told ANI. Recently, India's aviation regulator Director General of Civil of Aviation (DGCA) has given permission to restart the B-737 Max aircraft in Indian skies. The airline company has sent about 20 pilots for simulator compulsory training before resuming operations of Max airplanes. Aviation industry sources confirmed to ANI that SpiceJet's pilots are currently undergoing training in the NCR region. "The first batch of 20 SpiceJet pilots are doing their training now and will complete it by September 30 this year. The training was held at the SpiceJet Training Academy in Gurugram and at the Boeing Simulator facility in Noida," a SpiceJet official said. Boeing has set up a 'Full Flight Simulator' for the 737 Max in Noida. As per the available data with the regulators regarding the maximum number of aircraft pilots in SpiceJet, "SpiceJet had more than 350 pilots who were trained/qualified on the Max at the time when the aircraft was grounded," the SpiceJet official said. SpiceJet is confident about the Max aircraft operations and is likely to send more pilots for training in the coming weeks. SpiceJet had flown around 6,300 hours on the 737 Max before the aircraft was grounded in March 2019.<br/>