BOEING 737 MAX DELIVERED TO MALINDO AIR OF MALAYSIA

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has delivered the first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to launch customer Malindo Air of Malaysia at Boeing’s Seattle Delivery Centre in Washington state on May 16, 2017. Malindo Air which is a part of Indonesia’s Lion Air group, is being renamed as Batik Air Malaysia. This airline is the first to operate the 737 MAX in commercial service. The MAX is the latest variant of the world’s best selling aircraft the 737. Boeing developed the MAX in response to the Airbus A-320neo. It features the Boeing Sky Interior, new LED cabin lighting and larger overhead bins, along with new engine and other technology that extends the range and more importantly, the fuel burn. The delivery comes a day after Boeing resumed test flights powered by the single source CFM LEAP-1B engines. A potential quality issue with the low pressure turbine (LPT) disks from one of the two LPT suppliers, had caused Boeing to suspend test flights. Regulators have cleared flights with engines from the unaffected LPT supplier.