Nearly two years after a pair of deadly crashes forced airlines around the world to ground their fleets of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the newly recertified passenger plane returned to Canadian skies on Thursday.
WestJet flight 115 left Calgary International Airport at 7:43 a.m. local time, bound for Vancouver.
The flight comes three days after Transport Canada cleared the aircraft for flights in Canada, after approving design changes to the plane and requiring pilots to undergo additional training.
Transport Canada experts spent well over 15,000 hours reviewing design and software changes on the Boeing 737 Max made by the U.S. planemaker since the aircraft was grounded in March 2019 after deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that investigators said was caused by a faulty sensor system.
“Over the last 20 months, Transport Canada’s civil aviation safety experts, by their rigour and thoroughness, have ensured the safety concerns the department had identified have been addressed,” said in a statement Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.
“Canadians and the airline industry can rest assured that Transport Canada has diligently addressed all safety issues prior to permitting this aircraft to return to service in Canadian airspace.”
Earlier this month, WestJet president and CEO Ed Sims said the airline will take a phased approach to re-entry for its Max aircraft beginning with non-commercial test flights.
“We are dedicated to restoring guest confidence in this aircraft through our safe operation, while providing the transparency and the flexibility that some of our guests may still require,” Sims said in a statement released on Jan. 6. “We will be forthcoming with our guests on where the Max aircraft are flying, and we will be flexible with our change and cancel policy to ensure our guests can make their travel plans confidently.”
Passengers preparing to board the flight said they weren’t overly concerned about travelling on the plane.
Three passengers on the flight said they had been emailed by WestJet notifying them that they would be flying on the Max, while one didn’t know ahead of time.
None of the four was overly concerned, saying they trusted that the plane had been properly tested.
“It’s interesting to be the first one on it, but I’m not too concerned,” Chloe Marshall, who wasn’t aware in advance that she would be flying on the Max, told The Canadian Press.
“I think they have protocol in place and they know what they’re doing, so I just trust the process.”
Air Canada is expected to follow WestJet in returning the Max to commercial service on Feb. 1. Sunwing, which also flies the Max, has not yet announced when it plans to return the plane to service.
With files from The Canadian Press
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