WestJet plans to return its Boeing 737 Max fleet to service in a "phased and transparent" manner beginning later this month, the carrier announced.
The carrier for now has set a return date of Jan. 21, at which point Max aircraft would fly on three of its six weekly flights between Calgary and Toronto. It would keep that schedule for four weeks as it considers other routes and frequencies on which it would use the aircraft. The restart would follow some non-commercial test flights in mid-January.
The start date is dependent on Transport Canada, Canada's regulatory body for aviation, reopening Canada's airspace to Max aircraft. Transport Canada on Dec. 17 validated design changes for the aircraft and detailed requirements for Canadian carriers to operate the aircraft, and it said it planned to issue an airworthiness directive this month.
"While we don't have final confirmation on when [Transport Canada] 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," WestJet president and CEO Ed Sims said in a statement. "The [U.S. Federal Aviation Administration], 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."
The FAA rescinded its grounding order for the Max aircraft in November, more than 20 months after grounding it following deadly crashes of the aircraft type involving Ethiopian Airlines and Indonesia's Lion Air. American Airlines in late December became the first U.S. carrier to return the aircraft to commercial service.
An American Airlines spokesperson said that it has not seen any data indicating that travelers are avoiding Max flights and that their bookings are comparable to other aircraft.