Gary Kelly, in a recent interview, indicated that Southwest would train all of their 9,700 pilots over a 30 day period prior to re-introducing the MAX into their schedule. Those estimates may be somewhat unrealistic, however, if additional simulator training is required by the FAA for the MAX.
Southwest and Boeing don’t want additional simulator training, and want to maintain a single type rating for the 737NG and MAX series. International regulators are likely to move in a different direction, requiring additional simulator training for the differences, and the FAA is likely to follow suit.
Based on intelligence from a number of sources, we are looking at about 30 minutes of simulator training per pilot as a likely requirement as the MAX returns to service. But that presents another logistical problem – there simply aren’t enough simulators to complete training in a short period of time.
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