Fear of flying: troubled start for Boeing’s new 737 MAX series jets

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing In August 2011 introduced a new series of passenger jets meant to serve as an upgrade of its established workhorse model, the 737.

Their new 737 series, with variants numbering MAX 7, 8, 9 and 10, features more fuel-efficient engines and have other improvements meant to compete with the A320 from European manufacturer Airbus.

As Boeing raced to develop the 737 MAX, it convinced airlines and regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration that the new model would be safe, and able to handle enough like the previous 737 models, avoiding the need for costly retraining of pilots.

The jets first were delivered to airlines in May 2017, and by early 2019 about 350 were in service around the world as Boeing pressed ahead filling more than 5,000 firm orders, the majority of which were for the 737 MAX 8.

But most 737 MAX aircraft were grounded by mid-March 2019 in response to the March 10, 2019, crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight which took the lives of all 157 people on board.

The crash shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa involved a MAX 8, the same model which less than five months earlier went down minutes after departing Jakarta, Indonesia.

The October 2018 crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX 8 killed 189 people as the jet went down in the Java Sea.

(Photo: Xinhua)