United Airlines schedules B737 MAX reinduction for mid-1Q21

United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare) has published schedules indicating that it will restart scheduled B737-9 operations on February 11, 2021. The airline plans to resume MAX operations mainly out of its base at Houston Intc’l to Los Angeles Int’l (2x daily), Orlando Int’l, San Diego Int’l, and Tampa Int’l (daily each). It will also deploy the B737-9s between Los Angeles and Orlando (daily). As it stands, United Airlines is the latest carrier airline to restart B737 MAX operations after GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (G3, Sao Paulo Congonhas), which is already actively using the aircraft, and Aeroméxico (AM, México City Int’l) and American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth). In a statement to Flightglobal, the carrier said that it would not “return [the MAX] to service until we have completed more than 1,000 hours of work on every aircraft, including FAA-mandated changes to the flight software, additional pilot training, multiple test flights, and meticulous technical analysis to ensure the planes are ready to fly.” According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, United Airlines has so far taken delivery of sixteen B737-9s, including two that arrived this month, after the type’s ungrounding. It has a further fourteen B737-8s, twenty-seven -9s, and 128 B737-10s on firm order from Boeing.