Boeing working on plans to quell travellers’ fears about flying on 737 Max

Planemaker recommends that airlines offer anxious passengers alternative flights, but Ryanair will not comply

Boeing, maker of the 737 Max plane involved in two tragedies, is working on plans to calm travellers’ fears about flying on the jet.

Following two fatal crashes in which software installed in the flight control system was implicated, the latest version of Boeing’s most successful aircraft was grounded worldwide.

The Boeing 737 Max was banned from the skies after 157 passengers and crew died onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 from Addis Ababa in March.

In October 2018, 189 people aboard a Lion Air flight from Jakarta died in similar circumstances.

Boeing has been working on safety improvements and initially predicted that the 737 Max would be flying again by the end of 2019.

The expected date for re-entry to service is now spring 2020. But the company’s research found two out of five regular passengers said they would not fly on the Max because of fears about its safety.

The manufacturer has now produced strategies for airlines to cope with reluctant travellers. A central assumption is that carriers will offer anxious passengers the chance to “rebook on an alternative flights”.

Ryanair, which will be the largest user of the jet from the UK, has told The Independent it will not provide that option.

The strategies are contained in a draft publication entitled “Customer journey and scenario map”, obtained by the New York Times.

The first scenario involves a passenger who wants to book a particular flight and discovers it is scheduled on a Boeing 737 Max. They criticise the airline’s choice of aircraft on social media.

Boeing’s “Possible Airline Passenger Support” remedy recommends: “Airline proactively engages passenger on social media to provide information on the safety of the Max.

“Offers to take conversation offline to discuss alternative travel arrangements if the passenger is still anxious.”

The same remedy is proposed for travellers who book and later discover that they are due to fly on the Boeing 737 Max.

The document continues with scenarios at the departure gate, onboard the aircraft before take-off and in flight. In each, it imagines: “Passenger discovers she is flying on the Max and panics, creating a scene that causes anxiety for others.

“This scene is captured on video and posted to social media.”

If it happens on the ground, airlines are encouraged to show “willingness to rebook on alternative flight” – even if this means the passenger leaves the aircraft, with some consequent delay and disruption.

Were the panic attack to happen during the flight, Boeing recommends: “Flight crew may use techniques related to an inflight medical emergency.”

The New England Journal of Medicine estimated in 2013 that one in 14 inflight emergencies results in a diversion.

Before the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, the two airlines using the plane widely from the UK were Norwegian and Tui Airways. Both are expected to return the aircraft to service in 2020.

But their Max fleets are dwarfed by the scale of the order that Ryanair has placed: 210 of a special variant of the jet, with eight extra seats.

Europe’s biggest budget airline had originally planned to start flying the Max 200, as it is known, from Stansted on a range of holiday routes starting in May 2019.

Speaking to The Independent on 13 December 2019, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said that passengers will have no advance warning of the plane type they will be flying on.

“You won’t know, because on average you book seats on Ryanair six to eight weeks in advance of travel,” he said.

“We only do the aircraft allocations the night before, because we don’t know which aircraft is where.”

Planned aircraft assignments can be affected by unscheduled maintenance and delays caused by poor weather or air-traffic control.

“During the first year, you’ll have a 10 per cent chance you’ll be on a Max aircraft,” said Mr O’Leary.

“Will anyone know or care? Frankly, I don’t think they will.”

Anyone who chooses not to fly will be unable to claim a refund.

The giant US carrier American Airlines says it plans to resume scheduled flights with the Boeing 737 Max in April.

The airline says: “Details regarding policies and procedures for customers who do not wish to fly on the Max once the aircraft enters scheduled service 7 April will be released in the coming weeks.”