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American Airlines is flying its employees, including top executives, and reporters on its Boeing 737 Max planes this week in hopes of boosting confidence in the jetliners that were grounded for 20 months after two crashes that killed 346 people. At its maintenance base in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday, the airline laid out how it’s pulling the planes out of storage and preparing them for flights. American is also planning to allow customers to view the jets at airports before commercial service resumes. The FAA lifted its ban on the planes on Nov. 18, clearing airlines to start flying the jets again. Regulators worldwide grounded the planes in March 2019 after the two crashes of nearly new 737 Max jets within less than five months of one another. The design flaws discovered on the planes and that federal regulators certified the planes as safe in 2017 hurt the reputation of both Boeing and the FAA. American is set to become the first US carrier to resume flights with paying passengers on the 737 Max. It plans to start commercial flights between Miami and New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Dec. 29. “You don’t build confidence when the plane sits on the ground,” American Airlines’ COO David Seymour said Wednesday. “You build confidence when it’s out there flying and it’s doing the job it’s intended to do.”<br/>

Will this plane land safely? That question was very much on the minds of the 87 passengers on the revamped Boeing 737 MAX’s first public flight Wednesday following a 20-month grounding after two fatal crashes. US authorities last month gave the green light for the plane to return to service after upgrades in the wake of the two calamities that killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Wednesday’s promotional American Airlines voyage between Dallas, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma was intended to reassure the public before American resumes commercial service on the jet on December 29. The trip began with American flight attendants reviewing security procedures before distributing bottled water. As he welcomed passengers, pilot Pete Gamble testified to the plane’s safety and reliability. “The systems changes, the scrutiny the airplanes are going through, plus the training that we’ve enforced, has really brought back the confidence level,” Gamble said. “It needed to go through the scrutiny. It did.” Before flying the MAX, each American pilot is required to undertake a two-hour training course on a computer tablet, followed by an hour of flight simulator training, followed then by two hours with a colleague when pilots react to different flying scenarios. Aside from some turbulence along the way, Wednesday’s 50-minute flight to Tulsa proceeded uneventfully. Throughout, passengers donning face masks because of the coronavirus and separated by a seat due to social distancing betrayed no obvious anxiety. The everyday passenger not steeped in aviation will see no obvious markers of the MAX. The seats give only the numbers 737, though the wheel labels the jet as a “73-8x”. American has said that all customers who buy tickets on the plane will be notified of flights employing the MAX. <br/>

Qantas expects to start repairing its finances within months and said it’s upbeat about a recovery after a rebound in sales on the airline’s domestic network. Qantas will fly the vast majority of its normal domestic schedule next quarter after major state borders inside Australia reopened, it said Thursday. By June, the airline will be generating enough cash to begin fixing its balance sheet, it said. “We’ve seen a vast improvement in trading conditions over the past month,” CEO Alan Joyce said. “There’s been a rush of bookings as each border restriction lifted, showing that there’s plenty of latent travel demand across both leisure and business sectors.” “Overall, we’re optimistic about the recovery,” he said. The outlook for Qantas’s domestic network -- the profit engine of the group -- is better than the airline expected just last month. Australia has largely suppressed Covid-19 and more local flights are being added. Queensland’s state border reopened this week to all of New South Wales and Victoria, allowing a recovery in services between the state capitals of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Qantas’s capacity on routes in Australia will increase to 68% of pre-pandemic levels in December, and reach almost 80% in the first three months of 2021. Qantas expects to be close to break even -- based on underlying earnings -- in the six months ending December, and net free cashflow positive in the six months ending June. Still, Joyce reiterated there’s likely be almost no international flights until at least July 2021, and global travel will take years to recover. Qantas said it will post a “substantial” net loss in the year ending June 2021.<br/>

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has doubled down on his pledge that all international passengers will require a COVID vaccine to fly. He said on Thursday that the airline has made the decision because it has a “duty of care to our people” and it would put “safety ahead of popularity”. The comments come the day after UK became the first major Western country in the world to approve a jab. On Thursday, Joyce said, “As the Prime Minister said, it will become a binary choice for international travellers to either get the vaccine or quarantine for two weeks. And quarantine places are very limited. Our position on this is clear. We have a duty of care to our people and our passengers, and once a safe and effective vaccine becomes readily available, it will be a requirement for travel on our international services.<br/>