Southwest Airlines is bringing the 737 Max back Thursday, nearly two years after grounding - The Dallas Morning News

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Southwest Airlines is bringing the beleaguered Boeing 737 Max back into service Thursday, making it the last of the major airlines in the United States to do so.

Dallas-based Southwest, which is the biggest operator and customer for the plane that was grounded for nearly two years after two fatal crashes, will return the 737 Max to service for 32 flights Thursday between various locations in the country. None of those flights depart from Southwest’s home base at Dallas Love Field.

Southwest Airlines spokesman Brian Parrish said the company conducted more than 200 readiness flights with the plane since December without customers onboard.

“We are pleased with how the 737 MAX is booking, relative to the rest of our fleet,” Parrish said.

The aircraft won’t return to North Texas airports for commercial flights until next month, according to airline schedule data from Diio by Cirium. Fort Worth-based American Airlines has Max flights scheduled starting April 2 from DFW International Airport, while Southwest begins departures from Dallas Love Field on April 12.

Bringing back the 737 Max will close one of the most tumultuous chapters in Southwest’s 50-year-history, a crisis that caused it to ground 34 airplanes and cancel thousands of flights. The jets were grounded worldwide in March 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Both those crashes were linked to a faulty software system that wrestled control from pilots and sent the planes speeding into the ground, resulting in 346 deaths.

Losing the planes rattled the confidence of customers and strained Southwest’s fleet as it was trying to grow. Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary of the Ethiopia Air flight. Family members and consumer advocates are still pushing American regulators, airlines and Boeing to rethink the plane.

Families of victims of the Ethiopia Air crash protested in Washington, D.C., to push for FAA reform and were scheduled to meet with newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Some are calling for the firing of Federal Aviation Administration chief Stephen Dickson, who oversaw the recertification of the 737 Max.

The crashes also exposed major holes in the way airplanes are manufactured by Boeing and certified by the FAA, resulting in upheavals at both organizations.

The COVID-19 pandemic bought airlines some time to ease the 737 Max back into service after the FAA approved it to fly again in November.

Despite the uproar over the 737 Max when it was grounded, the plane’s return hasn’t caused too much concern for passengers, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry consultant with Atmosphere Research Group.

“The people that are flying on the Max appear to be comfortable with it,” Harteveldt said. “And Southwest benefits from not being the first to market to bring the Max back.”

In the coming years, the 737 Max will be the backbone of the Southwest fleet with orders and options on more than 350 of the aircraft. Southwest had 41 of the 737 Max jets in its fleet at the end of 2020, the most of any carrier. It expects to have 65 by the middle of April and nearly 70 by the end of 2021.

American Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to bring the 737 Max back in late December, after a series of practice flights involving media, executives and employees to demonstrate the jets were safe. It started flying commercial flights again at the end of December and has flown some 2,741 flights since. The only notable incidents have been a handful of mechanical and engine issues that forced emergency landings, which are uncommon.

United Airlines brought the plane back to service in February and Alaska Airlines brought its 737 Max jets back last week as well.

Southwest said it needed to get all of its 9,000 pilots through simulator and computer training before reintroducing the Max.

“We haven’t been given a script, but I think all of our pilots feel the same way and we’ll be standing there as the passengers get on,” said Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association. “We will be on there and we will put our family on there if need be.”

Murray said training covered what to do in case the MCAS software system activates, even though it has been changed since the two crashes. Boeing has been criticized by airlines, pilots and others for hiding the software system in order to downplay the difference in the 737 Max from previous generations of the jet.

“Let’s be clear, not only were we not trained on it, but Boeing didn’t tell the operators or purchasers,” Murray said.

The Southwest pilots union has a lawsuit against Boeing for lost flying time due to the 737 Max grounding. The airline received cash payments and discounts on future jet deliveries from Boeing to compensate for the grounding.

Southwest will only operate a handful of Boeing 737 Max flights out of 15 cities for the next month, peaking at 44 flights a day. Then the company plans to ramp up to about 250 flights a day on 737 Max jets around April 12.

That April 12 ramp-up will include flights from Love Field to places such as Austin, San Antonio and Las Vegas. Flights to Las Vegas and San Antonio will be the most frequent destination for Dallas-based 737 Max flights during the next few months.

Despite flying the 737 Max since late December, American will bring its first 737 Max jets to its DFW International Airport home base on April 2. The plane will fly in from Miami and out to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

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Southwest Airlines is bringing the 737 Max back Thursday, nearly two years after grounding - The Dallas Morning News
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