European Union joins growing list of entities grounding Boeing 737 Max 8 jets
BRUSSELS, 12th March, 2019 (WAM) -- The European Union has grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 jets, the latest entity to do so after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that killed 157 people on Sunday. That disaster came just five months after a similar Indonesian Lion Air jet plunged into the ocean, killing 189.
Prior to that move, a dozen countries suspended flights of the plane into or out of their airspace, including the United Kingdom on Monday. A growing number of airlines are also putting a halt to flights of the new Boeing 737 Max 8, with some citing worried customers. Meanwhile, a global team of investigators is picking through the rural Ethiopian crash site on Tuesday, searching for details on why the plane crashed shortly after takeoff. Answers could take months.
Boeing, however, has said it has no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies. It doesn't intend to issue any new recommendations about the aircraft to its customers. Its technical team joined American, Israeli and other aviation experts in the investigation led by Ethiopian authorities.