October 19, 2020 / The world’s largest airline by fleet size and passengers carried, American Airlines (AA), announced plans to return the Boeing 737 MAX to service for passenger flights before the end of 2020. According to World of Aviation, the carrier is going to operate a daily rotation between New York and Miami from December 29 to January 4.

AA is currently awaiting certification of the type from the federal Aviation Administration: “We remain in contact with the FAA and Boeing on the process and we’ll continue to update our plans based on when the aircraft is certified” American Airlines stated in an official note. However, the FAA recently reiterated that it has no timeline for approving the Boeing jet’s return to service, adding it would only lift the grounding order after FAA safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.

Boeing 737 MAXs were grounded worldwide since March 2019, after two crashes (Lion Air flight 619 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302) caused the killing of 346 passengers. Revised training procedures for the 737 MAX have been issued by the FAA, and are open for public consultation until 2 November. On its side American Airlines (which has 24 MAX 8 grounded) stressed that prospective passengers will be informed if they are travelling on a Boeing 737 MAX. The news come just a week after Boeing lost three more orders for the 737 MAX and for the first time in decades did not receive any order for any of its commercial aircraft in the whole month of September.