China Eastern Restarts Boeing 737-800 Operations After the March Tragedy

Boeing 737-800 aircraft with registration numbers similar to those involved in the March 21 tragedy are still undergoing maintenance and review, the firm said Reuters in a statement.

China Eastern flight MU5843, operated by a three-year-old Boeing 737-800, departed from the southern city of Kunming at 09:58 a.m. (0158 GMT) on Sunday and arrived in Chengdu at 11:03 a.m., also in southwestern China.

According to Flightradar24, the aircraft returned to Kunming after completing a test flight on Saturday.

Another Boeing 737-800 aircraft completed a test flight early Sunday near Shanghai, according to Flightradar24 data.

On March 21, aircraft MU5735 crashed in the mountains of Guangxi, killing 123 passengers and nine crew members in mainland China's biggest aviation tragedy in 28 years.

China has recovered both black boxes and said that it would submit an initial report to the United Nations aviation agency ICAO within 30 days of the incident.