The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
China Southern Airlines Co. cancelled two scheduled flights that would have used Boeing Co.’s 737 Max, further postponing the return of the aircraft in the country since it was grounded in March 2019.
The planned flights on October 30 were to be from Guangzhou to the cities of Wuhan and Zhengzhou, according to China Southern’s website. China’s largest airline originally planned to deploy the Max from October 30 on at least one daily round trip on both routes, marking the model’s first commercial passenger flight in China since the grounding.
No reason was given for the cancellations on China Southern’s website and the airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.
China was the first country to ground the Max following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.
The disasters plunged Boeing into crisis and forced the US manufacturer to make fixes to the jet, including to software that was blamed for forcing it into nosedives. While other regulators eventually allowed the Max to return, China held off, which was a blow to Boeing given the importance of the huge market.
Authorities approved its return to service in December, saying it was satisfied with updates to software linked to the crashes, but Chinese airlines have not rushed to put the jet back to commercial service.
—Bloomberg