Boeing’s 737 Max has been approved to fly again in Canada starting Wednesday, ending a 22-month grounding that followed a pair of overseas crashes that took 346 lives and did serious damage to the company’s reputation.
Transport Canada announced today it has completed its nearly two-year review of the aircraft and has issued an “airworthiness directive” detailing a series of changes that must be made before the Max can return to Canadian airspace.
The department said it will complete the final step of the process to clear the plane on Wednesday by lifting a notice to airmen (NOTAM) banning commercial flights of the Max in Canada.
On Thursday, WestJet is expected to become the first Canadian airline to fly the Max again, with a flight between Calgary and Toronto. WestJet plans to operate three weekly round-trip flights on that route for the next month while it considers adding more routes.
But the Liberals and Conservatives blocked the NDP’s motion for an inquiry during a transport committee hearing in November on the plane’s recertification process in Canada.
“The Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, they keep telling us, ‘Trust us,'” said Clariss Moore, who lost her daughter Danielle in the crash. “The public trusted this plane, and they failed us repeatedly. How could you trust when all the promises they’ve given have been repeatedly broken?
“I don’t trust this plane and I will never will.”
