AAL American Airlines Group Inc

By Andrew Tangel 

American Airlines Group Inc. put passengers back on Boeing Co.'s 737 MAX for the first time in the U.S. since the aircraft was grounded nearly two years ago following two deadly crashes.

American Flight 718 departed Miami International Airport around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday and landed at New York's LaGuardia Airport at 1:10 p.m. American said the flight was mostly full and that airline President Robert Isom was among the passengers.

The daily round-trip flights between Miami and New York are the start of American's plans to gradually add the MAX back into service. An American spokeswoman said the airline has begun announcing aircraft types during boarding to make sure passengers are aware they will be flying on a MAX. American will also alert passengers if they are suddenly scheduled to fly on a MAX due to a schedule change, she said.

David Seymour, American's chief operating officer, said gradually reintroducing the MAX would help build passenger confidence and give passengers flexibility if they initially prefer to fly on other aircraft. He said in an interview earlier this month that American pilots and flight attendants are confident of the plane's safety.

"We would have never brought the aircraft back if they were not comfortable," he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and global regulators banned the MAX from passenger flights in March 2019 following two crashes in less than five months that together took 346 lives. The FAA lifted its flight ban last month when it approved a series of software, hardware and training changes for the jets.

Brazil's GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA was the first airline in the world to resume MAX passenger service earlier this month.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. said it plans to reintroduce MAX flights on Feb. 11 out of hubs in Denver and Houston. Southwest Airlines Co., which operates an all-737 fleet, is planning to resume flying passengers on the MAX in March. A spokeswoman said Southwest hadn't yet officially scheduled flights with the aircraft.

The spokeswoman said that while a minority of Southwest's customers have indicated they weren't comfortable flying on a MAX, the majority of those fliers said they expected to become more comfortable as the aircraft flies more. Airlines have said they plan to let passengers uncomfortable with flying on MAX rebook their flights.

Investigators looking at the MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia largely blamed a new flight-control system known as MCAS for pushing the planes into fatal nosedives. While the MAX was grounded, Boeing and regulators devised fixes to the system that added multiple safeguards aimed at preventing it from overpowering pilots.

Chicago-based Boeing also formulated new pilot training and revisions to flight manuals, which had previously excluded information about the flight-control system. Airline pilots must complete the training, which requires time in a flight simulator, before flying the MAX.

A Boeing spokesman said the plane maker continues to work with global regulators and airline customers to support the MAX fleet's safe return to service around the world.

--Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Tangel at Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 29, 2020 13:39 ET (18:39 GMT)

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