China Eastern Airlines (CIAH) (CEA) has re-entered commercial service with its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, less than a month after the plane crashed in southern China, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.
China Eastern has already grounded a total of 233 Boeing 737-800s as a precautionary measure. Before resuming passenger service, the airline conducted system testing, structural inspections, and confirmed airworthiness data for each aircraft.
A Boeing 737-800 airplane, registration B-1791, crashed in the Guangxi highlands in southern China on March 21, 2022, carrying 132 passengers on flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.
The cockpit voice recorder was discovered two days after the tragedy by Chinese rescue personnel. The flight data recorder, the second black box, was discovered on March 27, 2022. The outside of both black boxes was substantially damaged, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC).
On April 1, 2022, a team of seven US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators and technical consultants joined Chinese authorities to examine the China Eastern Boeing 737-800 crash.
Boeing also stated that it will continue to support China Eastern, and that a Boeing technical team is assisting the NTSB and the CAAC in their investigations.
A preliminary inquiry report is likely to be completed within 30 days of the tragedy, according to Xinhua.