Australia ungrounds the B737 MAX

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) ungrounded the B737 MAX on February 26, 2021, thereby becoming the first regulator in the Asia-Pacific region to do so. “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. Our airworthiness and engineering team has assessed there are no additional return to service requirements for operation in Australia,” Acting CEO and Director of Aviation Safety Graeme Crawford said. For the time being, CASA’s decision remains moot since no Australian airline operates the type. Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane Int’l) has firm orders for twenty-five B737-10s but does not plan to take deliveries of any of them before mid-2023. CASA underlined that two foreign airlines, Singapore’s SilkAir (which is gradually being merged into parent Singapore Airlines) and Fiji Airways used to operate B737-8s on routes to Australia. The former does not currently fly to Australia due to COVID-related border restrictions while the latter uses a mix of B737-800s, A330-200s, A330-300s, and A350-900s to operate limited services to Brisbane Int’l and Sydney Kingsford Smith. Air Niugini (PX, Port Moresby) is another Pacific airline which has a firm order for four B737-8s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. Following the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to unembargo the B737 MAX, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Transport Canada, Brazil’s ANAC, and now CASA have followed suit. The remaining major regulators which have yet to issue such a decision include Russia’s Rosaviatsia, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). While India is reportedly near to the ungrounding of the type, the CAAC has said it is not ready yet and needs further studies to be carried out.