On February 1st, one of Hainan Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX took off from Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) and landed at Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG). This makes Hainan Airlines the second Chinese domestic airline, after China Southern Airlines, to resume the Boeing 737 MAX commercial operations.
Less than three weeks ago, on January 13th, China Southern Airlines became the first Chinese carrier to operate a Boeing 737 MAX commercial flight since the aircraft was grounded in China almost four years ago.
Ungrounding the MAX
China was the first country to ground the Boeing 737 MAX in March 2019, followed by the rest of the world. The grounding of the type came after an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashed six minutes after takeoff on March 10th, 2019, killing 157 people. This was the second Boeing 737 MAX crash after Indonesian carrier Lion Air's crash on October 29th, 2018.
Before the grounding, Chinese airlines owned more than a quarter of the world's Boeing 737 MAX fleet in service. Since then, Boeing has improved the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) system that caused the crash. The US and other countries began resuming MAX commercial operations in late 2021.
On December 2nd, 2021, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued an airworthiness directive for the modification of the Boeing 737 MAX, taking an important step for the aircraft's return to China.
A total of 97 Boeing 737 MAX have been grounded in China, including 16 by Air China, 14 by China Eastern Airlines (and Shanghai Airlines), 24 by China Southern Airlines, 11 by Hainan Airlines, ten by Xiamen Airlines, five by Shenzhen Airlines, seven by Shandong Airlines, three by Lucky Air, two by Ok Air, two by Fuzhou Airlines, two by Kunming Airlines and one by Juneyao Airlines.
After CAAC issued the AD, Chinese airlines carried out aircraft modification, pilot training, and other relevant work for resuming operations. Six airlines, including China Southern, Fuzhou Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Kunming Airlines, Shandong Airlines, and Shenzhen Airlines, have declared that they plan to operate Boeing 737 MAX in the winter/spring season of 2023.
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More Boeing 737 MAX deliveries expected
Technically, after completing the relevant modification, training, and other preparatory work, there is no policy restriction for Chinese domestic airlines to resume the Boeing 737 MAX operations. It's a managerial decision for each airline to determine when to bring its aircraft back to commercial operations.
However, due to frequent outbreaks of COVID-19 in many places last year, Chinese domestic airlines have low enthusiasm to bring the Boeing 737 MAX back because of low travel demand. With China Southern and Hainan Airlines returning the type to service, and the gradual recovery of the aviation market, Chinese airlines may soon restart receiving new Boeing 737 MAX deliveries.
Last July, Boeing released data showing that there were about 290 undelivered aircraft, with Chinese customers accounting for nearly half of the total. Assuming the 140 planes are all Boeing 737 MAX, the total list price comes to $16.8 billion.
To ease inventory overhang after a four-year grounding, in 2022 Boeing began to reallocate some of the 737 MAX it had planned to deliver to China to other overseas customers. However, Boeing said it could still deliver planes to Chinese customers when the time was right and that its 737 completion and delivery center in Zhoushan had long been ready to resume deliveries of new planes at any time.
Before this, the Boeing factory in Zhoushan had completed the delivery of two aircraft in late 2018 and early 2019; these aircraft completed interior assembly and painting in Seattle and were only delivered in Zhoushan. After resuming delivery in the future, Zhoushan is expected to welcome more "green" Boeing 737 MAX, with employees finishing the aircraft at the completion center.