Grounded WestJet Boeing 737 Max aircraft are shown at the airline's facilities in Calgary on May 7, 2019 (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

By Justin Goulet

WestJet hopes to resume 737 MAX commercial flights January 21

Jan 6, 2021 | 9:44 AM

CALGARY, AB – WestJet has announced its plans on returning its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to passenger service.

The rollout will be in a “phased and transparent approach”.

WestJet President and CEO Ed Sims said their first MAX jets will be ready to return safely to service as of January 21. That’s pending Transport Canada’s (TC) reopening of Canadian airspace to commercial flights for the aircraft.

“While we don’t have final confirmation on when TC will open Canadian airspace to the 737 MAX aircraft, in the interest of transparency we are sharing our intent to fly once this confirmation is received,” he stated.

The airline’s plans follow an announcement from TC last month, where safety experts validated the aircraft design changes and outlined requirements for Canadian carriers.

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The validation from Transport Canada followed that of the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority on November 18, 2020. More details on that are available here.

“The FAA, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and numerous other regulatory bodies around the world have spent more than a year examining the MAX aircraft to provide recommended changes to software, pilot training and maintenance requirements. We are confident with the changes they have mandated,” said Sims.

“In particular, the deliberate, detailed and independent scrutiny applied by Transport Canada’s National Aircraft Certification team, which prescribed additional requirements to pilot procedures and training, provides further confidence in the aircraft and its safe return.”

WestJet plans to start non-commercial test flights in mid-January.

If allowed, the airline plans to operate three roundtrip flights, per week, between Calgary and Toronto, starting January 21. That schedule will be in place for four weeks, while crews evaluate further routes and additional frequencies. WestJet currently operates six daily flights between the two cities.

“We are dedicated to restoring guest confidence in this aircraft through our safe operation, while providing the transparency and the flexibility that some of our guests may still require,” stated Sims.

“We will be forthcoming with our guests on where the MAX aircraft are flying, and we will be flexible with our change and cancel policy to ensure our guests can make their travel plans confidently.”

The airline has released a behind-the-scenes video which takes a look at the pilot and maintenance team efforts that went into returning the aircraft to the sky.

That video, as well as more details on the 737 MAX, can be found here.

Regulators around the world grounded the 737 MAX in March 2019, following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet. That incident occurred less than five months after another MAX flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea. A total of 346 passengers and crew members on both planes were killed as a result.