Boeing 737 MAX Flies To China For Tests, Still Worth It?

The Boeing 737 Max, suffered a series of crashes in five months in Indonesia and Ethiopia. (justin hu/unsplash)

JAKARTA - A Boeing 737 Max jet departed for China on Wednesday August 4 for a test flight as part of the US planemaker's efforts to gain approval in the vital travel market after two fatal crashes.

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows the 737 MAX 7 test plane taking off from Boeing Field near Seattle at 8:17 a.m. local time (1517 GMT). The plane landed at John Rodgers Field outside Honolulu nearly 5.5 hours later to complete the first round of its journey across the Pacific.

According to multiple sources, Regulators Boeing and China have scheduled recertification and testing flights in the coming days.

The test aircraft, which does not have the range for direct flights, is expected to arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on August 7, ahead of simulator tests on August 8 and if all goes well, the first test flight in China will take place on August 11 11.

The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. A Boeing spokesman also declined to comment on the flight and raised questions with regulators.

"Boeing continues to work with global regulators as they complete their validation process to better understand the upgrades to the aircraft," the spokesman said.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China also did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media.

Some 30 airlines and 175 countries have allowed the 737 MAX to return to service after a safety ban nearly two years after crashes five months apart killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The incident plunged Boeing into a financial crisis that has long been exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Boeing 737 MAX remains grounded in China, where trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have cut sales of the plane for years. But Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said last week that he still expects the 737 MAX to win approval before the end of the year.

Before the 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 after a second fatal crash, Boeing had sold a quarter of the planes it makes annually to buyers from China. For years, simmering geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing have caused uncertainty.

Industry sources also warned that the worsening COVID-19 pandemic situation in China could delay the planned testing.