The Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM), having reviewed the mitigating actions taken by the Boeing Company to improve the systems of the B737 MAX aircraft in both the airworthiness and the operational aspects, and having analyzed the airworthiness directives published by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), accepts that the B737 MAX aircraft has met the conditions for return to service and the Authority has resumed the acceptance of the flight applications with the aircraft model.  

In view of the two accidents of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which took place respectively in 2018 and 2019, AACM has taken safety precautions by suspending the approval of the flight applications of Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 by any airlines since 13 March 2019. Similar safety precautions were gradually taken by the other aeronautical authorities, which then led to the suspension of the operations of the aircraft worldwide.

The Boeing Company subsequently worked on the modifications to the aircraft design and the revision of the crew procedures and the flight crew training. Specifically, the actions included the updating of the flight control computer software, the revision of the non-normal checklists, the revision of the flight crew training programme to ensure that the pilots are well trained for the operations and so on. AACM was closely monitoring the work progress achieved by the Boeing Company and participated as an observer in the outreach sessions and the virtual briefing organized by FAA on this subject. Simultaneously, AACM was keeping close contact with CAAC and the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department on their evaluation of the B737 MAX return to service.

To check the effectiveness of the corrective measures taken by the Boeing Company, CAAC, FAA and EASA conducted their validation flight tests for B737 MAX aircraft, the results of which indicated that the safety issues previously concerned with the aircraft were cleared. The three authorities subsequently published their airworthiness directives approving the return to service of B737 MAX aircraft. The aeronautical authorities of the other countries and places gradually removed the suspension of the aircraft operations. In view of the above development and having assessed that the mitigating actions are appropriate and acceptable, AACM resumed the acceptance of the B737 MAX flight applications on 24 January 2022.