American Airlines plans customer tours of Boeing 737 Max and pilot calls to boost confidence in jets

PUBLISHED SAT, OCT 24 2020 5:18 PM EDT UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
Leslie Josephs

American Airlines is planning customer tours of the Boeing 737 Max and calls with its pilots in the coming weeks to boost the public’s confidence in the plane after two fatal crashes.

The jets were grounded worldwide more than a year and a half ago after the two crashes — Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. All 346 people on board the flights were killed.

Following repeated setbacks, the Federal Aviation Administration is at the tail-end of its recertification process for the jets though it has not signed off on the planes officially.

“The FAA continues to follow a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the aircraft to service,” it said in a statement.

Boeing has made several changes to the planes’ software including making a flight-control system that pilots struggled against in both crashes less aggressive.

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American plans 737 Max tours and Q&A sessions to convince passengers to fly it again

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business
Updated 1710 GMT (0110 HKT) October 26, 2020

New York (CNN Business) — American Airlines plans to convince passengers that the 737 Max is safe to fly. So it's considering tours and giving potential customers the chance to ask questions of the airline's pilots and mechanics.

The plans, which have not yet been finalized, were disclosed to airline employees in a call with executives last week, according to American spokesman Curtis Blessing. The plans were first reported by CNBC.

The 737 Max has been grounded since March 2019 following two crashes that killed 346 people. The Federal Aviation Administration and other airline regulators around the world are taking the final steps that could approve the plane to carry passengers again, including test flights. Airlines believe regulators could clear the plane for flight as soon as November.

American executives said that it is important to have let customers who are concerned about the jet have their questions answered by pilots or mechanics.

"They're the ones that ... really have the credibility to explain the Max," said Alison Taylor, American's chief customer officer, in the employee town hall last week.

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