UPDATE: March 12, 2019 6:26 p.m. ET: European Union, India, have joined the growing list of airlines grounding flights of Boeing 737 MAX. The maker of the aircraft says it plans to push a “software enhancement” that’s “designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer.”
After the devastating crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight over the weekend, a number of airlines are taking measures until more is known about the second Boeing 737 MAX to be involved in a fatal crash in months.
“Following the Tragic accident of ET 302/10 March B-737-8 MAX (ET-AVJ), Ethiopian Airlines has decided to ground all B-737-8 MAX fleet effective yesterday, March 10, 2019 until further notice.
Ethiopian Airlines
Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as extra safety precaution.”
The aircraft, ET-AVJ, was delivered to the airline in November of last year, and the aircraft is the second in months to crash after a Lion Air flight came down after takeoff last October near Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 189 passengers.
Indonesia’s director of general aviation announced the country will also halt flights in the 737 MAX, while China followed suit with their 75 aircrafts amongst their air carriers, and the same with Cayman Airways.
Closer to home in Canada, Air Canada has reported the aircraft has been safe and reliable, WestJet won’t speculate on the crash under investigation, though they are monitoring the situation.
Boeing has sent a team out to aid with the investigation, while they have postponed the celebration and debut of a new Boeing 777X, originally scheduled in Seattle this Wednesday.
