China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) announced on Sunday that it has begun resuming commercial flights with its Boeing 737-800 jetliners, less than a month after an accident that killed 132 people and forced the firm to ground 223 of the planes.
The airline stated that each of the planes had undergone systematic tests, structural inspections, and airworthiness data verification, and that test flights will be done on all planes before they resumed commercial service.
Boeing 737-800 planes with registration numbers similar to the one that crashed on March 21 are still being inspected and evaluated, according to a statement released by the business to media.
China Eastern flight MU5843, operated by a three-year-old Boeing 737-800 aeroplane, took off from Kunming in southwestern China at 09:58 a.m. (0158 GMT) on Sunday and landed at 11:03 a.m. in Chengdu, also in southwestern China, according to Flightradar24 data.
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft returned to Kunming after completing a test flight on Saturday.
According to Flightradar24 data, another Boeing 737-800 jet did a test flight early on Sunday in Shanghai, where China Eastern is based.
Flight MU5735, in way from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in the mountains of Guangxi on March 21, killing 123 passengers and nine crew members, making it mainland China’s deadliest aviation catastrophe in 28 years.
China has recovered both black boxes and has stated that it will submit a preliminary report to the United Nations Aviation Organization (ICAO) within 30 days after the incident.
