MACAU — Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (AACM) has joined the regulators clearing once-troubled Boeing B737 MAX aircraft for commercial flights.
According to a statement from the AACM, the authority has reviewed the necessary measures taken by the manufacturer and approved that the B737 MAXs now meet the safety requirements to return to service.
The Boeing 737 MAX family jets had been grounded and suspended from flights to and from Macau for an indefinite period since March 13, 2019, following two fatal crashes.
After almost two-year grounding, civil aviation regulators across the world have started gradually lifting bans on the aircraft, in close cooperation with and under supervision from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Among the areas noted as more important changes were the updating of the flight control computer software, the revision of the checklists for abnormal situations, and the revision of the flight crew training program to ensure that pilots are well-trained for operations.
Concurrently, the AACM, in line with the CAAC and the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, has conducted evaluations on the B737 MAX aiming at its return to service.
In the same statement, the AACM also noted that Boeing, CAAC, FAA, and EASA conducted several validation flight tests on B737 MAX aircraft which resulted in confirmation that the safety issues previously identified with the aircraft had been cleared.
Following the validation flights, the three authorities published their airworthiness directives approving the return to service of the B737 MAX aircraft, a decision now followed by the AACM.
