GOL has operated the first commercial passenger flight of a Boeing 737 MAX since the worldwide grounding.
On Wednesday morning, the Brazilian low-cost carrier took off with a 737 MAX from Sao Paulo, heading to Porto Alegre. Flight 4104 was operated by PR-XMB, a 737 MAX 8 that was originally delivered to the airline in August 2018.
In March 2019, the aircraft type was grounded around the world following two fatal accidents at Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines in October 2018 and March 2019 respectively. After Boeing made significant changes to its MCAS system, blamed for both crashes, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a re-certification to the 737 MAX family last month.
The FAA’s decision was closely followed by Brazil’s aviation regulator ANAC, which a week later said it was satisfied with the changes Boeing made and agrees with the FAA giving green light for a return to service.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
