A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft lands at San Francisco International Airport on March 13, 2019 in Burlingame, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
United Airlines put the Boeing 737 Max back into service on Thursday, the second U.S. company to recover the plane after two fatal crashes that caused it to land worldwide in 2019.
The Federal Aviation Administration suspended its grounding of the aircraft in November for 20 months after Boeing made software and other security changes to its best-selling aircraft. The resumption of deliveries last year was a relief for Boeing. The grounding of the planes caused it to drop cash, a crisis that was exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on airline demand.
United’s first Max flight from the ground left his center in Denver shortly before his scheduled departure time in Houston at 7:50 am. United has approximately 550 flights scheduled with the Max this month and about 2,000 in March. The Chicago-based airline said it expects to deliver 24 Max aircraft this year and had 14 in the fleet at the time of the March 2019 landing.
American Airlines, in December, became the first U.S. airline to return the aircraft to commercial service with flights outside its center of Miami. Brazilian operator Gol last year was the first airline in the world to resume flights with Max. Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines are scheduled to begin flying their Max planes next month.