More than three years after Beijing grounded the Boeing 737 MAX family, China Southern Airlines appears set to be the country's first airline to return the type to service as early as Oct. 30.
Online travel agency Trip.com shows that the airline’s Guangzhou (CAN) to Wuhan (WUH) and Guangzhou to Zhengzhou (CGO) flights will be operated with 737-8s. This is despite China Southern’s website continuing to show the two routes being operated by 737-800s.
CZ8728 is expected to depart CAN at 1 p.m. local time on Oct. 30 and land at WUH two hours later, while CZ3960 from CAN departs at 12:25 p.m. and lands in CGO at 2:55 p.m.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first regulator to ground the 737 MAX in March 2019 a day after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and is the only country with a significant MAX fleet not to lift restrictions. China Southern and China Eastern Airlines have both left the 737 MAX family out of their long-term fleet plans. However, there have been hints of a resumption. Mongolian Airlines flew a 737-8 from its Ulaanbaatar base to Guangzhou on Oct. 10 and has continued to use the aircraft for the weekly service.
CAPA fleet database shows China Southern has 24 737-8s stored, with another 64 on order.
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