Topline: After 20 long and turbulent months of being grounded, the Boeing 737 MAX is ready to take off into the skies as it gets approval to return to commercial service, says the U.S.  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday, November 18.  This follows after The Boeing Company had to suspend the services of the airplanes due to the crash of Ethiopian Airline’s Boeing 737 MAX in March 2019.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The FAA released a <a href="https://www.faa.gov/foia/electronic_reading_room/boeing_reading_room/media/737_RTS_Summary.pdf">comprehensive and methodical safety review process</a> report on Wednesday that took 20 months to complete. The report is to address the safety issues regarding the plane.&nbsp;</li><li>Boeing 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 when 346 lives were lost within a five-month timeline.&nbsp;</li><li>On October 29, 2018, a Lion Air&nbsp; Boeing 737 MAX crashed after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia. 13 minutes after takeoff, Flight 610 crashed killing 189 people.</li><li>Five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after take-off on March 10 killing all 149 people on board.&nbsp;</li><li>This led to many big airlines having to ground their Boeing 737 Max planes due to safety concerns. This included the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) who ordered all Chinese airlines to ground their Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets a day after the fatal Ethiopian crash. American Airlines, Comair Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines are just to name a few that also made the decision to ground their 737s.&nbsp;</li><li>“Throughout our transparent process, we cooperated closely with our foreign counterparts on every aspect of the return to service. Additionally, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson personally took the recommended pilot training and piloted the Boeing 737 MAX, so he could experience the handling of the aircraft firsthand,” the FAA statement read.&nbsp;</li><li>This stamp of approval allows airlines that are under the FAA&#8217;s jurisdiction to take the necessary steps to resume services.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Crucial Numbers</h4>



According to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/17/business/boeing-737-max-grounding-cost/index.html">CNN</a>, Boeing stated that this longest grounding in commercial aviation history has cost the company $20 Billion. This includes $8.6 billion to compensate customers who had their planes grounded, $5 billion for unusual costs of production, and $6.3 billion for increased costs of the 737 Max program.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Crucial Quote</h4>



&#8220;We will never forget the lives lost in the two tragic accidents that led to the decision to suspend operations,&#8221; said David Calhoun, chief executive officer of The Boeing Company. &#8220;These events and the lessons we have learned as a result have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality, and integrity.&#8221;

US-AVIATION-BOEING

Boeing 737 MAX Gets Approval To Fly Again After Almost 2 Years of Suspended Services

A new research paper from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates that blocking out the middle seat on airplanes could cause the likelihood of passengers being infected with coronavirus to drop by nearly half, just as some airlines are starting to book flights to capacity again.



KEY FACTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>According to the MIT paper (which has not been peer reviewed) the chances of catching coronavirus from a nearby passenger on a full airplane when all coach seats are filled is about <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.02.20143826v2.full.pdf" target="_blank">1 in 4,300</a>.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>However, those odds drop to 1 in 7,700 when all the middle seats on board are left empty, the paper states.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Taking into account a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.02.20143826v2.full.pdf" target="_blank">1% mortality rate</a> according to the statistical model, the likelihood of dying from a coronavirus case contracted on a plane is far more likely than dying in a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.02.20143826v2.full.pdf" target="_blank">plane crash</a>, which has odds of about 1 in 34 million, the paper stated. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>In “Covid-19 Risk Among Airline Passengers: Should the Middle Seat Stay Empty?” the author of the study, Arnold Barnett, wrote that his analysis aims to be “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.02.20143826v2.full.pdf" target="_blank">a rough approximation</a>” of the risks involved in flying during the coronavirus pandemic.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>“The airlines are setting their own policies but the airlines and the public should know about the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/filling-middle-seats-nearly-doubles-airline-passenger-risk-of-catching-covid-19-says-mit-researcher/" target="_blank">risk implications</a> of their choices,&#8221; Barnett told ZDNet this week.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The paper comes just as more flight carriers, like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/27/american-airlines-ditches-social-distancing-will-book-planes-at-full-capacity/#654a11ea3b9a">American Airlines</a>, begin booking flights to full capacity despite surges of the virus across the country. </li></ul>



KEY BACKGROUND



The coronavirus pandemic has been disastrous for the travel industry, and has especially hurt airlines. Major American carriers including American, Delta and United have asked employees to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/07/08/united-airlines-warns-that-it-could-layoff-36000-employees/#1f5870d93afb">take buyouts</a> and early retirement, Forbes reported, in a bid to cut costs as the pandemic causes them to bleed cash. United Airlines warned this week that it could be forced to furlough <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/07/08/united-airlines-warns-that-it-could-layoff-36000-employees/#6a9425d73afb">36,000 jobs</a>, or nearly half of its American workers, starting in October if travel doesn’t pick up. In April, the airline estimated that in the first quarter it lost <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2020/04/20/united-airlines-first-quarter-loss/#36db1a0196ef">$2.1 billion</a> pre-tax, Forbes reported, and was losing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2020/04/20/united-airlines-first-quarter-loss/#36db1a0196ef">$100 million</a> a day in the last half of March. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in May he expects a major airline to go <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/05/12/boeing-ceo-warns-a-major-airline-will-most-likely-go-out-of-business-this-year-because-of-coronavirus/#660d73342b4b">out of business</a> in 2020 as a result of pandemic pressure.



NEWS PEG



American Airlines announced two weeks ago it would begin <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/27/american-airlines-ditches-social-distancing-will-book-planes-at-full-capacity/#654a11ea3b9a">booking middle seats</a> again starting in July, although the carrier will allow passengers to switch from a full flight without any extra cost, Forbes reported. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/27/american-airlines-ditches-social-distancing-will-book-planes-at-full-capacity/#370f46303b9a">United</a> is also selling tickets for middle seats. American Airlines took flak earlier this month when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) tweeted a picture of his <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/1278782271986831360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1279139143117832192%7Ctwgr%5E&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wusa9.com%2Farticle%2Fnews%2Fverify%2Fverify-airplane-safety-coronavirus-major-airlines-policies%2F65-5872a38d-42fe-4940-be04-eb67de1fe0c3" target="_blank">crowded flight</a>. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AmericanAir</a>: how many Americans will die bc you fill middle seats, w/ your customers shoulder to shoulder, hour after hour. This is incredibly irresponsible. People eat &amp; drink on planes &amp; must take off masks to do so. No way you aren’t facilitating spread of COVID infections. <a href="https://t.co/PWG5macqgC">pic.twitter.com/PWG5macqgC</a>&mdash; Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/1278782271986831360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



WHAT TO WATCH



If airlines continue to extend their policy of keeping middle seats blocked off or if they’ll be forced to book to capacity to turn a profit. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/1280932162854948866" target="_blank">Southwest</a> and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/Delta/status/1278352078784671744" target="_blank">Delta</a> have both committed to keeping their middle <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/Delta/status/1278352078784671744" target="_blank">seats</a> blocked off until at least the end of September, while <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/06/26/airlines-tried-social-distancing-board-many-that-experiment-is-ending/" target="_blank">JetBlue</a> will do the same through July, according to the Washington Post.



&#8211; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/">Carlie Porterfield</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a>

gettyimages-1224293933-594×594

Leaving Airplane Middle Seats Empty Could Cut Coronavirus Risk Almost In Half, A Study Says

When Maria Hiwilepo was seven years old, she would walk barefoot six kilometers to school. In those hot days, meandering between bush, trees and mud, she would look up to the sky and see a different world. Airplanes, with their engines roaring high above her, were a rare sight in the bush village of Ohainengena, in northern Nambia, far from technology and the modern world. For Hiwilepo, the sky and the world beyond her small village held inspiration.
“It was a childhood dream. I always wanted to fly. I grew up with a curiosity. How did they work? How did they stay up there? Why up there? Where I grew up, it was very prestigious to be a teacher or a pastor or a nurse. I would see helicopters, I would see things flying and hear their sounds,” says Hiwilepo.
This is the remarkable story that took Hiwilepo out of the Namibian countryside and into the world of fashion and flight. She turned her dream into reality and became an international commercial pilot, flying the planes she saw as a child. That’s not all.
“It was a different world, of what I know the world to be now&#8230; It would be perfect to live in a world where I could fly my own aircraft, land it, go to a shoot, and then fly home again,” she says.
Hiwilepo’s village was so small she could tell who had gone to school by their footprints in the sand.
“It was always just hot. I remember the heat because I remember always been so thirsty walking home from school,” she says.
“I really loved school. I remember refusing to get out of bed to help clean the house, but if my dad woke me to go to school it didn’t matter. Up ‘til today I love to learn.”
When Hiwilepo finished school, she was 15 years old. She had a scholarship waiting, and was on the cusp of reaching her dream. Then they told her she had to be 18 years old to become a pilot. Hiwilepo went off to the University of Namibia to study computer science and economics instead.
It was here that modeling, which she had been doing since she was 10 years old, paid off, when she won the Miss University of Namibia pageant, which gave her a year’s free tuition. Walking down the runway turned into her second dream. From there, she stepped into the international limelight as a finalist in the 2008 Face of Africa.
“African families think modeling is more of a hobby than a career. It’s important to go to school and get the paper that says you can work as this and in the meantime you can model. My parents believed this was a hobby.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32028 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/0021.jpg" alt="" width="712" height="950" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0021.jpg 712w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0021-300x400.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0021-600x801.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0021-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px" />
Around Cape Town, Hiwilepo uses her model name Amira Eli. She is now the up-and-coming fashion model who has walked the catwalks for designers like David Tlale.
“[Tlale’s shows are] always an entrance. The choreography is always so wow. He has that energy.  I remember a show I did with him and the pair of shoes I was to wear went missing. [Tlale] grabbed a pair of size three, and I’m a five, and shoved them on. I was in pain the whole away down to the run way. When I was on the runway, I couldn’t feel the pain, I forgot all about it.”
It’s an even tougher life flying planes from Windhoek to Frankfurt, but Hiwilepo does it in style, with a pair of the trendiest aviators on hand. She is also one of the rare few female pilots that can fly an Airbus A330 and a helicopter.
“I’ve done flights, where the entire cabin crew is girls. I’ve also done flights and I’m the only girl. Back then it was worse, but it is a male-dominated industry. The stereotype is: people prefer older pilots over younger pilots; men over females; and white skin over black. It’s there, it will always be there. But if you choose to let the stereotype consume you, then you are a victim. I wasn’t raised like that.”
And how does Hiwilepo juggle her two very different lives?
In between shifts, Hiwilepo flies down to the boardwalks of Cape Town to pursue her budding model career. It is the reason why FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is able to meet up with her off the runway and in a coffee shop at Greenpoint, in Cape Town. She dressed up for the occasion – her helicopter jumper suit was in a handbag next to her, just in case, she says.
“In my mind I have already landed before I have even taken off. I’m at my best when I am prepared. Am I well rested? Am I fit physically? That’s me preparing for my flight. With modeling, the preparation is different. I have to look my best, I have to take care of my life and I have to look my best.”
Of all the places, Hiwilepo rates Cape Town as the most beautiful. She may not get as much time here as she likes; by the next day, Hiwilepo was piloting an Airbus to Frankfurt; living her dreams over the skies and on the catwalks of Africa.

Amira-Eli_JC-2-of-4

Landing An Airbus A330  And The Best  Modeling  Assignments  In Africa

Legend has it that heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali was flying into the newly independent Ghana in the 1960s, when he went into the cockpit and saw two black pilots.
“What did you do with the real pilots?” asked Ali.
“We are the real pilots,” one of them replied.
“Back home in Louisville, Kentucky, they don’t let black people drive a bus,” quipped Ali.
When Ernest Kekana was a young boy in South Africa, fascinated with flying, this picture hadn’t changed much.
“I didn’t necessarily want to be a career pilot but wanted to fly airplanes, and the type of airplanes I wanted to fly was obviously anything I could get my hands on, the bigger the better. In order to fly the bigger airplanes, I knew that I would have to pursue a career in aviation as a pilot,” he says.
Kekana saved up the money he made from working at Edgars, a South African clothing retail chain, to attend a flight school in Lanseria Airport. But he quickly learned that if he wanted to succeed he would have to fly more often. He gave up his part-time managerial position at Edgars for a weekend job at the flight school for a tenth of the money.
“This was my opportunity to get my foot in the door in aviation… It’s one of those close-knit industries, and unless you have your foot in somewhere, it’s going to be difficult to actually break into it.”
When one of the operation controllers from the flight school’s charter division took leave, they needed someone to fill in and Kekana grabbed the controls with both hands.
“It was supposed to be a three-month contract but after the first month they offered me a permanent position,” he says.
At the time, Kekana had his private pilot’s license but could no longer afford to continue his training. He remained working at the flight school on weekends and went to work on charter during the week. He flew charter flights and occasionally sat in as co-pilot to build up his flying hours.
After two years in the charter business he was promoted to senior flight operations controller.
One of the managers at the flight school applied to the Aviation Training and Development Foundation to sponsor Kekana in the final phase of his training. Although Kekana had almost finished paying his way through flight school, the non-profit organization was adamant that he join them. They were looking for a role model to promote aviation among black people.
Kekana then worked for SA Express for two years and then South African Airways for five years, where his dream for his future took shape.
“I [had] arrived in terms of what you can achieve as a career pilot for an international carrier. My first conversion was onto a Boeing 747 as the inflight relief pilot so I was already flying 360-seater airplanes on long-range international flights… From there you just move in the ranks but the airplane and the routes and the types of flying you do will not change for the next 30 to 40 years… I thought, ‘We’re here,’ there must be more that I can do or give back.”
This led to the birth of Kekana’s luxury charter service, K5 Aviation. It is one of the only South African aviation companies with international and domestic licenses for all categories of aircraft and helicopters.
Starting an aviation company wasn’t easy. Kekana chuckles as he tells the story of how he got his service license.
Kekana had approached the international and domestic air services in South Africa to apply for his license. His international license was approved but the domestic air service license was rejected. He says the domestic air service wanted to see more money in the bank and more financial security. K5 then approached the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, now known as the National Youth Development Agency, which offered the funding. After that, the air domestic council approved the license.
“The domestic and international councils are independent bodies. The perceived more stringent council had approved my application and given us the license and the domestic hadn’t, it was a bit of a surprise,” says Kekana.
After they got their finances in order, K5 Aviation took off in 2006, and within the first six months they were making a profit.
“After 12 months we were showing a loss,” says Kekana.
Their worst financial period came during the 2010/11 recession. The company went from having weekly flights to receiving no phone calls. The team had to negotiate with their debtors and creditors.
“We’re still standing. We’ve made money, we’ve lost money but we’ve managed to stick it out through the recession and our doors are still open.”
Despite the difficulties—other airlines suffer too—Kekana is confident about the future of the K5 team. He says they would like to fly larger groups of people more regularly.
The advice Kekana gives to emerging entrepreneurs is the same advice he takes.
“Everything is achievable, if you really want something and you work hard towards it you will get it […] If one day, this all shuts down, if I can come on a weekend and take a little flight school airplane and go for a flight around the city, I’ll be happy because I’ll still be in an airplane.”   FL

Tag: Airplanes

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Boeing 737 MAX Gets Approval To Fly Again After Almost 2 Years of Suspended Services

Leaving Airplane Middle Seats Empty Could Cut Coronavirus Risk Almost In Half, A Study Says

Landing An Airbus A330 And The Best Modeling Assignments In Africa

Young, Gifted And Soaring