737Max

[rugbyref]

I see that UK airlines are cleared to resume 737 Max flights. Do we think there will be sufficient public confidence to make these viable?

[Jeff]

I think it might be a struggle, especially with social media nowadays 🙄

[graham]

I think that as at present, it's only TUI who operate the Max from these shores, and given that no one is likely to be heading off anywhere on holiday by plane for some months yet, then it will soon fade from the minds of any concerned travellers, most of whom probably wouldn't even realise that they were flying on a Max anyway. But, heaven forbid that the Max is involved in another accident, anywhere and for whatever reason,then I think that would be the death knell for it as far as passenger confidence is concerned.

[rugbyref]

I can see other airlines following Ryanair’s example and calling them by a different name from Max. 737-8200 is what I believe Ryanair intends calling theirs.

[Jeff]

I agree re holidays Graham, however there are a lot of foreign airlines that could operate the MAX to our shores not necessarily holiday related. The MAX being very frugal on fuel and cheap when it comes to ground handling at airports could be the go to option for these airlines in these times.
Ryanair is expecting to take delivery of 30 frames by the summer which will be operated mostly out of UK airports, not sure if it's settled on a new name for the aircraft yet, last I heard it was calling it a B737-8200, googling B737-8200 it comes back as a MAX with a summary of its sad history. Pax will do the same when they see the 8200 sitting at the gate. I guess time will tell, but any hiccup in operation will of course be jumped on by the press with an accompanying photo of a 747 or an A320 and the MAX will be the main topic of conversation again.

[graham]

Do you think they would Jeff? Would that many air travellers know the difference between a 737 and an A320/A321, recognise their chariot as a Max then potentially say, " I'm not getting on that"? even though they haven't had a holiday for two years?

I'm not disagreeing with you, just juggling the possibilities around. I guess it will remain to be seen once things start to resemble anything approaching normality and holidays become possible again. The way we both feel, not having had a foreign jaunt since 2018, is that we'd fly on anything.

[Jeff]

Lol, very true mate. Passengers are becoming more aircraft type literate these days though, the VRs have attracted lots of new skywatchers, Facebook groups are abundant, twitter etc etc. They may not have the in depth understanding like aviation enthusiasts do but they know where to go for info when needed.