The United States is to allow Boeing's controversial 737 MAX plane to fly again by the end of the year.
The Federal Aviation Authority has given the green light for flights to resume, 20 months after the fleet was grounded globally after two fatal crashes within the space of five months.
A Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board.
In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed, and all 157 people on board - including Irish engineer Michael Ryan - were killed.
It prompted both global aviation regulators and ultimately Boeing itself to ground flights.
Since then, Boeing has upgraded the plane's software, while airlines will be required to provide additional pilot training before flights resume.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told The Hard Shoulder that investigations into the two crashes made it clear that a software within the aircraft was malfunctioning.
He explained: "It was ultimately putting the aircraft into an uncontrollable nosedive that could not have been recovered by flight crew, who were unaware in the beginning that this software ever existed.
"It's been a very long process - the aircraft has been on the ground since.
"Today, in the United States... they have cleared the 737 MAX to return to the skies. No structural differences - it's following software upgrades."
Mr Macheras said not only were orders put on hold due to the grounding, many airlines ultimately cancelled their order due to the bad publicity.
He said: "There are still many airlines that will continue with their orders - including Ireland's very own Ryanair, one of the largest customers of the 737 MAX.
"Michael O'Leary can't wait to get his hands on this aircraft. He expects to take delivery of it in March next year, and say he doesn't care if passengers are concerned about it - if there is a €10 fare, he knows they'll still come and arrive for the flight."
Mr Macheras said the expectation is Boeing will keep the 'MAX' brand name, but some airlines such as Ryanair seem to be 'quietly dropping' that branding and instead referring to it as its numerical digits.
However, he noted that American Airlines is among those that will inform customers if a 737 MAX plane will be used - and customers will be able to be transferred to another one if they feel uncomfortable.
