China's Shenzhen Airlines returns to London Heathrow

China's Lucky Air set to resume B737 MAX flight operations

Lucky Air (China) (8L, Dali City) is preparing its three B737-8s to re-enter regular service having relocated them to Haikou Airport and putting them through a series of test flights after grounding them almost four years ago. An imminent re-entry into service would make Lucky Air the fourth China-based airline to resume MAX revenue operations.

Unluckily for Lucky Air, their three B737-8s arrived at the airline in 4Q 2018, just ahead of the global MAX grounding in early 2019. B-1143 (msn 61852) and B-206N (msn 43560) both went into long-term storage at Lijiang Airport, while B-207P (msn 43617) went to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport. The two aircraft stored at Lijiang quietly ferried to Haikou earlier this year, while B-207P ferried across from Chengdu on February 16. ADS-B data from Flightradar24 shows B-1143 to be the most active aircraft, having operated five (albeit short) flights this month.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) says that Lucky Air formally applied to resume B737 MAX operations at a meeting in Yunnan on February 2....

China's Fuzhou Airlines resumes B737 MAX operations

Fuzhou Airlines (FU, Fuzhou) has returned one of its two B737-8s to scheduled passenger operations, with B-207C (msn 43567) now operating a daily Fuzhou - Zhengzhou roundtrip service. Fuzhou Airlines is the third China-based airline to bring the B737 MAX back into service.

ADS-B flight tracking data shows B-207C had undertaken a series of test flights from Fuzhou Airport since mid-January after re-positioning there from Haikou. On February 15, the airline slipped the aircraft back into service and it operated FU6581, a daily scheduled flight from Fuzhou to Zhengzhou. Later in the day, the plane operated FU6582 on the return leg. B-207C repeated the flights on February 16. According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, the carrier's second B737-8, B-207M (msn 43620), remains in storage at Xuzhou. That aircraft has no recent flight history.

Thirteen China-based airlines have the B737 MAX family in their fleets - a total of 80 planes. With Fuzhou Airlines resuming MAX flights, three of those airlines have began returning the type to service. China Southern Airlines...

China's Hainan Airlines resumes B737 MAX flight operations

Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou) has resumed commercial B737 MAX flights, with a B737-8 operating a roundtrip scheduled passenger service between Haikou and Kunming Changshui on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. Hainan Airlines becomes the second China-based airline to restart MAX flights after China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) began reintroducing some of its MAX aircraft in December.

FlightRadar24 ADS-B data shows B-207H (msn 60706) operated flight HU7089 to Kunming and the return service HU7090 to Haikou on Wednesday. The aircraft also operated a series of test flights in and out of Qionghai in the latter days of January before ferrying to Haikou on January 31.

Hainan Airlines operates a fleet of eleven B737-8s. According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, all were acquired over the 2017/18 period. Seven of the planes arrived on operating lease and four were purchased by or for the airline. A second B737-8, B-1388 (msn 62199), has recently moved out of storage at Haikou and into a maintenance facility there and has conducted some test flights, the most...

China Southern resumes commercial B737 MAX flight operations

China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) reactivated two B737-8s for commercial flights on January 13, 2023, becoming the first Chinese carrier to return the type to revenue service since March 2019.

B-1206 (msn 63245) operated as CZ3960/3393 from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou and back, while B-1127 (msn 63268) was deployed as CZ8726/3347 from Guangzhou to Wuhan and return. Both aircraft were active throughout 2022 and in early January 2023 on test flights, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

B-1207 (msn 63248) was subsequently reactivated on January 14.

The reintroduction of the type into revenue service happened without any statement or advance notice from the carrier. China Southern Airlines has not outlined any further steps regarding the reintroduction of its remaining twenty-two B737-8s. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that the airline also has another 44 undelivered aircraft on order from Boeing, although it once expected to take 103 B737-8s. Chinese airlines often keep their orders undisclosed until delivery. In May 2022, amidst the uncertainty related to the ungrounding of the type in...

Editorial Comment: The article updates with the third B737-8 reactivated. - 16.01.2023 - 02:36 UTC