A 737 MAX 7 taking off from Renton Field in Washington, USA BOEING

Hello and welcome to your January 2021 edition of Airliner World. As we enter a new year, it feels like there is change in the air. The news in mid-November from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it is to lift the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX within the United States is a major breakthrough in returning the type to global skies.

Within minutes of the announcement, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson was on a US cable news network stating that he would have no concerns about his family flying on the narrowbody jet. That Dickson even had to say this is testament to the fact that for Boeing and many airline customers around the world, the MAX crisis may be coming to an end, but the PR battle is far from over. Consumers – many of whom are already wary of flying on a commercial aircraft due to the perceived threat of COVID-19 – will shortly see the MAX resume scheduled service at many of America’s biggest airlines. Despite an unparalleled 20-month safety review process, which the FAA has described as “comprehensive and methodical”, there will still be a struggle to win over some portions of the travelling public. For years to come, the MAX name will be intrinsically linked with a pair of deadly accidents and the lacklustre initial response from stakeholders to fully understand what went so badly wrong in the skies above Indonesia and Ethiopia. To counter any spectre of fear, expect airline marketing machines to be cranked up to 11 to extol the virtues of a jet COVER IMAGE • Within 30 years of the A300's which is (now) widely considered to be the first flight, Airbus' airliner offering had expanded massively and incorporated the most scrutinised, and by definition, the A310, A330 and A340 – all derived from its safest ever in passenger service. As someone maiden product AIRBUS who flew across the Atlantic on the 737 MAX in 2017, I for one have every faith in the regulatory and approvals process and will not hesitate to get back on board when circumstances allow.