American Airlines leads US return of Boeing 737 MAX after global grounding

Some families affected by previous crashes remained cautious about returning to the aircraft. Zipporah Kuria, who lost her father on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, described flying on a 737 MAX as a "one-way ticket." The resumption of commercial service followed an earlier invite-only demonstration flight for airline employees and media.

While American Airlines was the first US airline to return the jet to service, Brazil's GOL Linhas Aéreas was actually the first globally after recertification. GOL resumed operations with its 737 MAX fleet in early December 2020 between São Paulo and Porto Alegre after retraining its pilots. At that time, GOL offered passengers concerned about flying on the MAX an option to rebook without penalty.

GOL's Vice President of Operations Celso Ferrer said: "for the past 20 months, we have been carrying out the most intensive safety review in the history of commercial aviation. Safety comes first and foremost." A spokesperson also noted that passengers could change their flights free of charge if they preferred not to fly on a MAX aircraft.

The FAA's decision allowing both airlines to operate the MAX again came after extensive review processes and required design changes detailed in a comprehensive directive for airlines operating these jets. FAA Administrator Steve Dickinson said: "This airplane has undergone an unprecedented level of scrutiny by the FAA. We have not left anything to chance here." Dickinson personally piloted a test flight before recertification.

Support from pilot groups such as the Air Line Pilots Association also played a role in restoring confidence in the jet's safety following engineering updates.

The original grounding followed two high-profile crashes involving Lion Air Flight 610 near Jakarta and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 near Addis Ababa—both attributed largely to issues with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Investigations found sensor errors and insufficient pilot training contributed significantly.

According to final reports from investigators including those at NTSB: "the specific failure modes that could lead to unintended MCAS activation (such as an erroneous high AOA [Angle of Attack] input to the MCAS) were not simulated as part of these functional hazard assessment validation tests."

Boeing faced major financial consequences due to compensation claims from airlines—totaling $8.6 billion—and canceled orders amounting indirectly up to $60 billion in losses according to industry sources. In total, around 1,200 orders were canceled post-grounding.

Looking forward, industry analysts expect Boeing will continue producing derivatives of this model into at least the next decade due partly to limited new product launches by either Boeing or Airbus (https://simpleflying.com/boeing-airbus-no-new-aircraft/). As demand remains high but deliveries lag behind orders—6,782 ordered versus just under 2,000 delivered—Boeing plans incremental production increases pending further regulatory approval (https://simpleflying.com/boeing-737-max-production-rate-increase/). After recent incidents such as Alaska Airlines’ door plug issue in early 2024 heightened scrutiny over manufacturing quality control, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford commented: “progress is being made. It may not be as fast as Boeing would like, but it is as fast as we can reasonably move through the process.”