All Eyes on Gol as Brazilian Airline Is First to Put 737 Max Back Into Service
Photo Credit: Gol is set to be the first global airline to resume Boeing 737 MAX flights on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Wikimedia / Alexandro Dias
Skift Take
Gol is set to be the first global airline to resume Boeing 737 Max flights on Wednesday, returning the jet at the beginning of Brazil's busy summer travel season. But questions remain over whether travelers have confidence in the aircraft after a 20-month grounding with no less than the future of Boeing hanging in the balance.
Regular travelers begin flying on the Boeing 737 Max for the first time in nearly 21-months on Wednesday — at least in Brazil.
São Paulo-based Gol became the first global airline to return the beleaguered Max to passenger service on a flight between its São Paulo Guarulhos hub and Porto Alegre on Wednesday morning. The move comes two weeks after Brazil’s aviation regulator ANAC lifted its grounding order for the Max, and three weeks after the U.S. did the same.
While a Gol spokesperson declined to name initial routes, Cirium schedules show the carrier flying the 737 Max 8 on select flights between São Paulo and Brasilia, Florianopolis, Goiania, Natal, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro Galeão and Salvador in Brazil by December 18.
Brazil and other countries grounded the MAX in March 2019 after the second of two fatal crashes that took the lives of 346 people. Faults in the plane's flight control system played a key role in both crashes — issues that regulators' mandated Bo
