List of Boeing 737 MAX groundings

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The Boeing 737 MAX airliner, which began service in 2017, was involved in two fatal accidents, Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, that resulted from a malfunction of the aircraft's new flight stabilizing software,^[1] the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

After the Ethiopian Airlines crash, China and most other civil aviation authorities grounded the airliner over safety concerns. Other jurisdictions, including the U.S., followed suit as new evidence revealed similarities between both crashes. The groundings were ordered despite Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg's public assurances that the airplane was safe and a phone conversation with President Trump in which he "reiterated to the President our position that the MAX aircraft is safe", according to a Boeing statement.^[2] In response to increasing domestic and international pressure to take action,^[3][4][5] the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the aircraft on March 13, 2019, reversing a Continued Airworthiness Notice issued two days prior.^[6] About 30 MAX aircraft were flying in U.S. airspace at the time and were allowed to reach their destinations.^[7] By March 18, every single Boeing 737 MAX plane (387 in total) had been grounded, which affected 8,600 weekly flights operated by 59 airlines across the globe.^[8] Several ferry flights were operated with flaps extended to circumvent MCAS activation.

The grounding subsequently became the longest ever of a U.S. airliner.^[9][10]