By Andy Pasztor and Alison Sider Updated Nov. 3, 2019 7:54 pm ET Airlines aren’t leaving it to Boeing Co. BA 1.55% and the Federal Aviation Administration to reassure travelers the 737 MAX will be safe to fly. They are devising plans to conduct their own demonstration flights with senior company officials on board to amplify that message.
The airlines don’t intend to duplicate the months of intense analysis and flight testing the FAA has conducted in conjunction with foreign regulators, these officials said. Rather, the flights are designed as part of a public-relations drive to show that the industry is going to extra lengths to highlight its commitment to safely phase the planes back into schedules.
“We look forward to supporting our airline customers, their pilots and flight attendants as the MAX returns to commercial service,” a Boeing spokesman said. “Restoring the trust of the traveling public in the safety of the 737 MAX once it’s recertified is our top priority.” “It’s really important for our customers to see the plane is flying again,” said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines Group Inc. Top executives, members of the media and potentially corporate clients will likely board some of these early flights.
European aviation regulators have opted to conduct a batch of separate and more-detailed test flights, in addition to those slated by the FAA, to convince themselves that final software fixes related to MCAS are acceptable. Those tests are likely to delay return of the MAX at airports across the Atlantic by at least several weeks.
But Southwest executives have said passengers might not be so reticent. The carrier has been surveying its customers and conducting focus groups on how to best restore confidence in the plane, executives have said. Southwest President Tom Nealon said a tiny percentage of customers—less than 1%—check what kind of plane their flight will be on, despite the onslaught of MAX-related news in recent months.
wsj is this a paid free article to boost the B morale ?
Will the CEO and other senior execs be on these demos?
asimakoaa They should also demo the stall happening and recovery
lets see how many senior company officials get on board.
This thing has a serious design flaw that no PR event can fix. No matter how you cut it, I would not fly that thing
Still a hard pass from me, thanks
Good news. Thanks to all the people who devoted their efforts.
Гупі?
Is there a casting call for look-a-likes out yet?
No thanks. Never going on that plane.
No thank you! boeing knew something was wrong but pure greed allowed the deaths of almost 400 persons. Scrap the 737 Max!
Nope. Nevermaxer
Is this like the first jaws movie where the Towns Mayor is the first to go back into the water!!! We all know how that went!!!
These planes should be scrapped. If it needs MCAS and multiple angle of attack sensors .... there is a design flaw. Boeing needs to do the RIGHT thing.
No. Thanks.
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