Kazakhstan to complete Boeing 737 MAX airworthiness assessment in February

Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan (AAK) is proceeding with its re-clearance process for Boeing 737 MAX. The Central Asian country’s aviation authority said it would complete the airworthiness evaluation of the type before the end of February to allow for MAX operations to resume.

The type’s only operator in Kazakhstan, SCAT airlines is assisting the regulator in the evaluation process. It has been instructed to “conduct additional flight crew training, including simulation of unreliable speed indications during take-off, climb and en route, and update company procedures in line with the manufacturer’s revisions,” AAK said in a statement.

According to the regulator, SCAT jointly with Boeing engineers have completed the necessary procedures to bring aircraft safely out of storage and introduce the software modifications the aircraft in SCAT’s fleet.

“SCAT pilots have been trained in one of the world’s certified training centres. This week, the carrier is planning to perform test flights. Currently, the aircraft is undergoing the final stage of preparations to return to service in line with the requirements of the manufacturer and the aviation regulators of the United States and Kazakhstan,” the statement reads.

The Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan temporarily suspended operation of SCAT’s Boeing 737 MAX in March 2019. Currently, one aircraft of this type is registered in Kazakhstan registry. But SCAT, country’s second largest carrier has five more MAX-8s and two MAX-9s on order. Also, low-cost carrier FlyArystan has a letter of intend for 30 Boeing 737 MAX-8 aircraft signed with Boeing in November 2019.

On January 27, 2021, the 737 MAX was cleared by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA), paving the way to the resumption of flights in Europe. Earlier, the Boeing 737 MAX’s grounding was ended by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) and Transport Canada.

Air Transport