Dallas (United States) (AFP)

American Airlines flew a Boeing 737 MAX flight on Wednesday with journalists on board in an attempt to allay fears and convince of the safety of this aircraft, whose flight ban was recently lifted in the United States to the chagrin of families of victims.

This promotional flight, to which AFP was invited, took off around 10:10 a.m. local time (4:10 p.m. GMT) from Dallas, Texas and landed fifty minutes and some turbulence later in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the main station is located. maintenance of the company.

On site, mechanics, technicians and engineers took turns to explain the work carried out on the device, during the twenty months of immobilization and just before it was put back into service.

Pilots have detailed the new training they must follow.

The plane, which represented more than two-thirds of Boeing's order book before the accidents, was grounded around the world in March 2019 after two close-quarters accidents that killed a total of 346.

The American and Brazilian authorities gave their respective green light in November for its return to service after several modifications to the aircraft and the establishment of specific training for pilots.

The European Union should follow suit by the end of January 2021, while China maintains the mystery of its intentions for the moment.

American Airlines is planning its first commercial flight on December 29 in the United States.

But to attract and reassure customers about the reliability of the aircraft, which has endured the longest grounding in the history of civil aviation, the company has embarked on an active communication strategy.

The charm operation began on Tuesday with a flight on which Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines, and his wife were seated.

Three other flights with airline employees are also planned before the resumption of commercial flights, a spokesperson told AFP.

The aircraft has already gone through several thousand hours of test flights in the hands of specialists in the aviation sector.

The head of the US aviation agency, Steve Dickson, himself took control of the aircraft at the end of September.

The main change that regulators are asking for is the MCAS flight control software, which pilots on Lion Air, October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines flights, March 10, 2019, had failed to master.

- Insufficient, for families -

Other software must also be changed, as does the repositioning of some cables.

Boeing plans to set up an operations center that will monitor all flights in real time.

But for the families of the victims, this is insufficient.

They believe that there are still technical problems to be corrected and advise against going on board.

"The 737 MAX is an aircraft that has flaws," lashed out at US law firm Clifford, Ike Riffel, who lost two of his sons, Melvin and Bennett, in the 737 MAX tragedy. 'Ethiopian Airlines.

For Michael Stumo, who lost his daughter Samya, 24, in the same crash, "this promotional flight was arranged by the American Airlines marketing team simply because the company made a mistake in purchasing a lot more MAX than almost any other company ".

American Airlines was indeed the second largest customer of the Boeing 737 MAX before the accidents with 24 units in service, behind Southwest (34 units).

If Boeing has recorded order cancellations since the accidents, the aircraft manufacturer could see new contracts arrive.

Irish carrier Ryanair could thus announce an order for 737 MAX on Thursday, industry sources told AFP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

The company and Boeing declined to comment.

Wall Street welcomed this information: Boeing stock gained more than 5% on Wednesday.

© 2020 AFP