China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) restarted scheduled B737-800 operations on April 17, 2022, nearly a month after it grounded the type following the crash of flight MU5735.

The first B737-800 to be reactivated by the airline was B-207L (msn 63075), which flew from Kunming Changshui to Chengdu Shuangliu on April 17, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

The ch-aviation fleets module indicates the airline operates 106 B737-800s. The decision to ground the sub-fleet was taken by the carrier and not by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which promised close scrutiny of the -800's safety but did not ground it countrywide.

Subsidiary China United Airlines (KN, Beijing Daxing International) resumed B737-800 operations on April 19, according to AirNav RadarBox ADS-B data, while sister carrier Shanghai Airlines (FM, Shanghai Hongqiao) remains nearly fully grounded by a strict lockdown of Shanghai. It has therefore not yet reactivated its B737-800s.

The crash of China Eastern's B737-800 B-1791 (msn 41474) on March 21 killed all 132 on board after the aircraft ploughed into the ground from 29,000 feet. Investigations into the cause are ongoing.