Indonesia’s Transport Ministry on Tuesday said that it has given the green light for the Boeing 737 MAX to resume operation, three years after the Lion Air tragedy that killed 189 people, following a review of the aircraft’s system modifications.
According to Riyanto, the Indonesian government has decided to lift the ban on the Boeing 737 MAX after completing the evaluation of the aircraft system modification with several aviation regulators.
“The activity was attended by representatives of the United States Federal Aviation Administration in Singapore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Boeing, and was also attended virtually by the Directorate General of Air Transportation, and Boeing Seattle,” he said.
The government has asked the airlines to follow airworthiness directives and inspect their planes before they can fly the 737 MAX again, the ministry said.
The approval of the aircraft’s return in Indonesia comes months after it returned to service in the United States and Europe, and follows the more recent lifting of grounding orders in countries including Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Ethiopia.
China, the first country to ground the aircraft, also lifted the operating ban on the Boeing 737 MAX in December after assessing the aircraft safety adjustments to be “adequate.”
The FAA lifted its grounding ban on Boeing 737 MAX in November 2020 after its administrator, Steve Dickson, signed an order that allows the aircraft to return to commercial service, following a comprehensive and methodical safety review process that took 20 months to complete.
FAA also noted that Dickson personally took the recommended pilot training and piloted the Boeing 737 MAX to experience the handling of the aircraft firsthand.
