There will be a couple of notable flights for the 737 Max model, which was tied from March 2019 to November 2020 after two accidents that killed 346 people. The flights come after the US Federal Aviation Administration approved Boeing’s changes to the jet last month.
But some American flyers are nervous: a new poll conducted Monday by Reuters / Ipsos found that 57% of Americans surveyed said they were unlikely to fly in a Boeing 737 Max when they were told about the plane’s history. About 37% say it would be likely to fly in it once it is in the air for six months or more.
However, the same survey showed that some people are either unaware of the history of the 737 Max or have forgotten about the problems of the planes. Of the American flyers surveyed, 39% said they were familiar with the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents in October 2018 and March 2019, down from about 50% in a previous survey.
The American did not reveal how many seats he sold on Tuesday’s flights, a route from 10:32 ET from Miami to LaGuardia Airport in New York and a return at 14:30. But late Monday morning, the airline’s website showed only one main cabin ticket still available for the afternoon return.
Most airlines in other countries have not yet approved the use of the 737 Max. But Brazilian airline GOL became the first carrier to offer passenger flights earlier this month, and Aeromexico resumed flights last week between Mexico City and Cancun.
Two other US airlines own the troubled plane: United airlines (UAL) and Southwest (LUV), none of them have added the plane to their schedule yet. United have said they plan to do so sometime in the next three months, while Southwest expects to do so in the spring.
Almost all airlines around the world have parked many of the planes they own, given the lack of pandemic fuel demand for air travel – so less is needed immediately to get the planes back into the air. But the 737 Max is more fuel efficient than previous versions of the aircraft now in use, so airlines have an interest in bringing Max back into the air.