Airliner World’s Martin Needham investigates how some of the hardest hit carriers are trying to absorb the blow and lessen passengers’ woes as issues surrounding Boeing’s 737 MAX continue to keep Seattle sleepless.
Five months have passed since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. As the type has earned the unfortunate distinction of becoming the longest grounded conventional airliner since the de Havilland Comet – surpassing the 787 Dreamliner’s 123-day embargo on July 15 – operators of the type have scrambled to shore up capacity as the Northern Hemisphere’s summer season reaches its crescendo.
Within this report we seek to cover as broad a range of MAX carriers as possible, however we've been unable to establish what the 15 Chinese airlines using the type have done to mitigate scheduling problems. In an apparent effort to distance themselves from the embattled jet, it would appear most references to the MAX have been removed from many of their websites.
The Icelandic flag carrier laid off 24 MAX pilots and halted plans to recruit a further 21 during June.
Icelandair
Prior to the grounding, Icelandair had received six 737 MAX jets – five MAX 8s …
