An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed near Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board, including four Indians. (File)Britain, France and Germany became the latest countries on Tuesday along with Australia, Singapore, Oman, Malaysia to ban Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in their airspace. The development comes two days after a similar Boeing model flown by Ethiopian Airlines crashed near Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board, including four Indians.
“As a precautionary measure UK has decided to stop any Boeing 737 MAX commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace,” the UK Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
This was closely followed by Germany. “Safety comes first. Until all doubts have been cleared up, I have ordered that German airspace be closed to all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with immediate effect,” Transport Minister Andreas Scheuerhe was quoted as saying by Reuters.
France’s DGAC civil aviation authority also said it was banning Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from French airspace. Two deadly crashes in a span of less than five months involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8, one of the most modern aircraft in the market, have also prompted several airliners across the globe to ground the jets.
On Tuesday, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico joined China and Indonesia in grounding Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft as a precaution and to ensure their airworthiness.
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Norwegian, which operates 18 such planes, will keep them grounded pending advice from aviation authorities, AFP quoted operations chief Tomas Hesthammer as saying. South Korea, meanwhile, ordered the only airline in the country that deploys the jets to suspend operations of its two Boeing MAX 8s.
With this nearly 40 per cent of the in-service fleet of 371 Boeing 737 MAX jets is grounded, according to industry publication Flightglobal. That includes 97 jets in biggest market China.
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While a preliminary cause for the plane going down in Addis Ababa is yet to be ascertained, investigators have recovered the black box of the Nairobi-bound aircraft, which was carrying passengers and crew from 35 countries — including some two dozen UN staff.
Airplane engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash. (File)The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said the suspension will affect SilkAir, an arm of Singapore Airlines, as well as China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air.
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However, in a breather for Boeing from the US, with authorities saying it would not make any decision until it has more evidence. “We continue to be involved in the accident investigation and will make decisions on any further steps based on the evidence,” AFP quoted FAA spokesperson Lynn Lunsford as saying.
While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has stopped short of grounding the aircraft, it has issued a fresh set of directives to be followed by Jet Airways and SpiceJet, which use the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The DGCA said engineers and maintenance personnel have been instructed to factor in additional checks, particularly those pertaining to the autopilot and stall management systems. The pilot commanding the aircraft should have at least 1,000 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737 NG aircraft type, and the co-pilot at least 500 hours, the DGCA said.
