Såvidt jeg vet vil ikke Norwegian beholde betegnelsen, men du kan jo alltids spørre. Amerikanske passasjerer er nok mer tilbakelente når det gjelder dette. "Flyr den i USA er den sikker", tipper jeg de fleste tenker. Hvordan jeg selv skal forholde meg til typen er jeg usikker på nå. (Red.)
Ikke store forskjeller, men sjekk motoren og taggene..... - Foto via Teknisk Ukeblad
Southwest will retain 'Max' moniker when grounding lifts
27 AUGUST, 2019 - SOURCE:
FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM - BY: JON HEMMERDINGER - LAS VEGAS
Renaming the Boeing 737 Max is off the table at Southwest Airlines.
In an effort to be transparent
with customers, the Dallas-based carrier has chosen to retain the
"Max" handle when the type returns to the skies, says chief revenue
officer Andrew Watterson.
Just when that might happen
remains unknown, though Boeing is aiming for the fourth quarter.
But Watterson notes Southwest's
ability to get aircraft back in the skies depends not only on the regulatory
approval, but also the pace at which Boeing can deliver hundreds of jets
currently sitting in storage.
"We will not change the
name of the aircraft. That would be disingenuous," Watterson tells
FlightGlobal during the Boyd Group International Forecast Summit in Las Vegas.
"It will still be called the Max for us."
Speculation has abounded that
airlines may feel compelled to drop the "Max" moniker so as to avoid
reminding customers of the type's troubled past.
But after conducting customer
surveys, Southwest believes its passengers trust it to thoroughly vet the
aircraft's safety.
"Essentially the customers
told us, 'We trust you'," says Watterson. "Our job will be to provide
credible evidence that we have validated that the aircraft is safe to
fly."
The Max's return to service
timeline remains fluid, though Boeing expects to submit certification
requirements to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in September and for
regulators to clear the aircraft in the fourth quarter.
Southwest has removed the Max
from its flight schedules through 6 January, though that could change.
"When Boeing delivers the
software to the FAA – that's a significant milestone," Watterson says,
estimating regulators could lift the grounding four to six weeks later.
"That will be our cue to ramp up our plans."
Those plans call for Southwest
to revise flight manuals to include new details required by the FAA, and to
implement a training programme to teach pilots about those changes.
Southwest estimates needing 30
days to train all its pilots.
Meanwhile, Southwest will
publish a new flight schedule containing Max flights and begin preparing its 34
737 Max jets currently in storage at Victorville, California for a return to
the skies. Those aircraft will need Boeing's updated flight control software
and must undergo maintenance related to coming out of storage, Watterson says.
He expects Southwest can get
those 34 aircraft back in the skies in relatively short order.
But the most significant hold-up
will likely be Boeing's ability to deliver to airlines the hundreds of 737 Max
jets it has manufactured but not delivered since the grounding took effect in
March.
Delivering new aircraft under
ideal circumstances can take several days, requiring thorough inspections, test
flights and correction by Boeing of any issues uncovered, Watterson says.
"The ones that are
grounding in some parking lot somewhere – that will be the bottleneck for
Boeing," Waterson says. "How long will it be before we get all our
aircraft? We are not sure."
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