Boeing 737 MAX back in the air, nearly 2 years after being grounded by deadly crashes

Commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed Wednesday for the first time since they were grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes nearly two years ago. Brazil's Gol Airlines became the first in the world to return the planes to its active fleet, using a 737 MAX 8 on a flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24. The company's own announcement didn't specify the route of the flight. Gol is set to start regular service on Dec. 18, according to aviation data firm Cirium, with several daily flights between Sao Paulo and other major Brazilian cities. Customers will be able to exchange their tickets if they don't want to fly on a 737 Max, a Gol spokesperson said. Gol owns seven 737 Max aircraft, according to Cirium. It is the only Brazilian company with the model in its fleet. "The MAX is one of the most efficient aircraft in aviation history and the only one to undergo a complete recertification process," Gol's CEO, Paulo Kakinoff, said earlier this week.<br/>