Europe to see 737 Max return as Czech Airline plans flights

Boeing Co.’s 737 Max model will resume flights in Europe after a near two-year grounding following two fatal crashes, with Czech leisure airline SmartWings AS planning to bring back its seven-plane fleet.

SmartWings will restart operations this month and aims to return all of the aircraft to service by the summer, it said in an email Tuesday. The aircraft will be used on routes to destinations including the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Madeira in the Atlantic as well as the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The move comes after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency last month cleared the Max to resume flights, a major step in the narrow-body jet’s global rehabilitation after the crashes led to its grounding in March 2019. Airlines in the U.S. and Brazil had restarted commercial flights in late 2020 after regulators the countries cleared a return.

Among other European Max operators, TUI AG said separately Tuesday that it has set no return date for the plane, with flights largely idled amid coronavirus lockdowns.

Icelandair Group Hf said in an earnings release that it will bring back the jet this spring, without saying when.