(Corrects headline, story to remove reference to Australia being first nation in Asia-Pacific region)
SYDNEY, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Australia's aviation regulator said on Friday it would lift a near two-year ban on flights to and from the country that use the Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co BA.N 737 MAX aircraft, among the first in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.
"We...are confident that the aircraft are safe," Graeme Crawford, the acting chief of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, said in a statement.
The regulator had accepted the comprehensive return-to-service requirements set by the U.S. FAA as state of design for the 737 MAX, he added.
No Australian airlines operate the 737 MAX, but Fiji Airways and Singapore Airlines Ltd SIAL.SI operated them on flights with Australia before the craft were grounded in March 2019 after two deadly crashes.