WestJet’s 737 MAX: Behind the Scenes

WestJet has complete confidence in their MAX aircraft

January 19 - With the 737 MAX aircraft returning to service, WestJet wanted to give you the opportunity to see what’s been going on behind the scenes, so you can have the same level of confidence in the MAX that WestJet does.

Meet two team members who led the efforts and discover the incredible preparation and care that’s gone into ensuring safety above all aboard WestJet’s 737 MAX aircraft.

As Director of Line Maintenance at WestJet, John Romane and his team of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, oversee maintenance of all the aircraft in WestJet’s fleet. This included making the necessary updates to the MAX that Boeing and Transport Canada identified. While both Boeing and Transport Canada were on-site to oversee the initial modifications, doing the updates in-house gave John and his team full visibility to ensure the work also met the WestJet standards.

John Romane, Director of Line Maintenance

“Our maintenance teams will dedicate 2,000 work hours to each of our 737 MAX aircraft, implementing and testing the updates prior to them returning to service.”

-John Romane, Director of Line Maintenance

WestJet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers working on the 737 MAX aircraft

In addition to making these updates to WestJet’s 737 MAX aircraft, the Chief Pilot 737, Jimmy-Dean Porter worked hand-in-hand with Boeing and Transport Canada to create a comprehensive training program for WestJet’s 737 pilots. The program includes MAX-specific simulator training, as well as extensive briefings, training modules and evaluations.

WestJet’s-737-MAX--Behind-the-Scenes-3 Jimmy-Dean Porter, Chief Pilot 737

“I have complete confidence in our MAX aircraft. I have no hesitancy putting my family on board, with any of our WestJet pilots.” –Jimmy-Dean Porter, Chief Pilot 737

WestJet is also conducting validation flights with every MAX aircraft in their fleet to make sure it performs as intended prior to returning to commercial service.

To learn more about John and Jimmy-Dean’s roles in safely returning of WestJet’s 737 MAX aircraft to service, watch the behind-the-scenes video.