China Eastern resumes Boeing 737-800 Flights

On Sunday, China’s airline carrier, China Eastern Airlines informed that it has started using its Boeing 737-800 jets for commercial flights. The airline’s decision comes in less than a month since a crash happened last month involving the same aircraft. The crash claimed the lives of 132 people. This eventually led the company to ground 223 of the aircraft. The airline further commented that it had conducted systematic tests, structural checkups, and verified airworthiness data for each of its aircraft. Also, test flights would be carried out on all planes before they are put back in business.

In a statement, China Eastern Airlines informed Reuters that Boeing 737-800 planes with registration numbers close to the one that crashed on March 21 are still undergoing maintenance checks and evaluation. Flightradar24 data released earlier, on the day that China Eastern flight MU5843, operated by a three-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft, took off from the southwestern city of Kunming at 09:58 a.m. (0158 GMT) on Sunday and landed at 11:03 a.m. in Chengdu, also in southwestern China. As per the Flightradar24 data, the aircraft, which completed a test flight on Saturday, later came back to Kunming. Flightradar24 data further showed that another Boeing 737-800 jet conducted a test flight early on Sunday in Shanghai, where China Eastern is based.