DALLAS — Hainan Airlines (HU) has resumed passenger flights with its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in China, nearly four years after the type was grounded.
Today, HU’s Boeing 737-8 aircraft, registered B-207H, took off for its first scheduled domestic passenger flight, HU7089. The type was previously ferried to Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) from Qionghai Bo’ao Airport (BAR) in Hainan.
According to Flightradar24.com, the plane took off from Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) in Hainan Province around 1.25 a.m. (UTC) and landed at Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG) in Yunnan Province after nearly two hours of flight.
Since the Boeing 737 MAX jet was ungrounded in China last month, HU has become the country’s second carrier to resume passenger service with the MAX.
China Southern Airlines (CZ), China’s biggest carrier according to fleet size and market share, was the first to resume MAX operations by reactivating two of the type on January 13, 2023.
Following the second fatal crash of the narrowbody jet in six months, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) became the first to ground the 737 MAX in March 2019. In total, 346 people were killed in the accidents that occurred in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Featured image: Boeing
