MIAMI — The first U.S. commercial flight of Boeing's 737 Max since two deadly crashes prompted a worldwide grounding of the planes in March 2019 took off on Tuesday.

American Airlines Flight 718 departed Miami International Airport at 10:40 a.m. for New York's LaGuardia Airport.

"We're flying on a Boeing 737 Max," Capt. Sean Roskey announced over the plane's PA system, to some applause from passengers, which included American Airlines' president, crew and other employees. "We have the utmost confidence in this aircraft. As a matter of fact, my wife is on board."

The 172-seat plane has 87 passengers on board, an American Airlines spokeswoman said. The Max flight back to Miami later Tuesday is nearly full.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier is operating a once-daily roundtrip flight between the two airports and then plans to increase service to other cities in the coming weeks. United Airlines plans to start Max flights on Feb. 11 from its Denver and Houston hubs. Southwest Airlines has said it would start flying the planes in the second quarter.