Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has lifted the temporary suspension on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operating to and from the country issued following two deadly accidents involving the model.
The temporary suspension on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operating to or from Australia has been lifted.
While no Australian airlines currently operate the Boeing 737 MAX, two overseas airlines flew these aircraft types to Australia before the COVID-19 pandemic – Singapore-based SilkAir (now Singapore Airlines) and Fiji Airways.
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Both the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency recently issued return to service airworthiness directives for the Boeing 737 MAX.
A total of 346 people perished in two accidents involving Boeing 737 Max jets, one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March 2019.
The planes were grounded worldwide and only certified to fly again last November.
In both crashes, a sensor provided incorrect data to the software, prompting the nose to dive. Pilots were unable to override the automatic settings. The new version of the software is to be fed data from two sensors.
The 737 MAX has already received approval in Boeing’s home country, the United States, by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the European Union by the EASA, among others.
“We have accepted the comprehensive return-to-service requirements specified by the FAA as State of Design for the 737 MAX and are confident that the aircraft are safe,” CASA’s acting head and director of aviation safety, Graeme Crawford, said in a statement.
“Our airworthiness and engineering team has assessed there are no additional return to service requirements for operation in Australia.”
Graeme Crawford, CASA’s acting head and director of aviation safety
With COVID-19 continuing to disrupt international air travel, there was no indication when Singapore airlines and Fiji Airways would resume their Boeing 737 MAX operations to Australia, Mr Crawford said.
Source: AAP
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