BOEING 737 MAX DELIVERIES TO CHINA FACE FRESH DELAY AFTER ALASKA INCIDENT

Following the mid-air rupture of a panel on an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 earlier this month, Boeing is facing yet another delay in starting to deploy 737 MAX aircraft to China, the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday. According to the article, which cited people with knowledge of the situation, China Southern Airlines had been preparing to take delivery of MAX aircraft in January, but it intends to carry out further safety checks on the aircraft. China's aviation regulator has asked the country's airlines to undergo preventive safety inspections on its Boeing 737 MAX jets, the newspaper added. The MAX 9 variant is not available on Chinese carriers' fleets. They do not have the panel from the Alaska Airlines incident on their MAX 8 aircraft.
As it awaits further clarification from US probes into the tragedy, Beijing is delaying major actions.