Russia has grounded the 737 MAX. So far, only one airline has made use of this.
The 737 MAX is no longer grounded in Russia after the deadly crashes at Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. The Russian aviation authority has lifted the grounding, as reported by the aviation portal Aero, citing Russian news agencies. The re-release is initially limited to operators from “friendly countries”. Since the Russian attack on Ukraine, however, air traffic between the West and Russia has come to an almost complete standstill due to mutual airspace closures.
According to information from “ch-aviation.com”, only the Belarusian airline Belavia has so far made use of the lifting of the grounding and routed the 737 MAX 8 EW-528PA through Russian airspace on a flight from Minsk to Georgia on July 21. The only Russian operator S7 Airline does not currently use two leased 737 MAX 8. The re-release could nevertheless help Turkish Airlines to be more flexible on Russian routes. The Turkish airline has expanded its 737 MAX fleet to 25 aircraft in recent weeks with new deliveries.