737 MAX to return to skies Wednesday in Brazil

Nearly 21 months after it was grounded following two deadly crashes, the Boeing 737 MAX will return to the skies Wednesday with a flight by Brazilian carrier Gol, the airline confirmed. Gol, the first company to resume commercial flights with the now-overhauled jet, said it was fully confident in the safety upgrades and expanded pilot training program implemented by Boeing as part of aviation regulators' conditions to recertify the plane. "For the past 20 months, we have been carrying out the most intensive safety review in the history of commercial aviation," Gol's vice president for operations, Celso Ferrer, said. "Safety comes first and foremost." The 737 MAX will make its return on an early-morning domestic flight. A Gol spokesman told AFP that any passenger who did not feel comfortable flying on the 737 MAX would be allowed to reschedule at no cost. Gol, the biggest domestic airline in Brazil, said 140 of its pilots had undergone training on the jet in the United States. The company said it expected to have its full fleet of seven 737 MAX planes back in the air by the end of the year.<br/>