Max 8 planes won’t even be allowed to fly over the country
The type of aircraft involved in the crash that killed 157 people in Ethiopia on Sunday has been banned from British airspace.
Boeing’s 737 Max 8 model has now crashed twice in less than six months, the Ethiopian Airlines crash coming after a Lion Airs flight crashed in Indonesia, killing 189.
On Tuesday afternoon, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that Max 8 planes are suspended from flying into or out of the country, as well as over it, while investigations continue to determine what caused the crash.
“As we do not currently have sufficient information from the flight data recorder we have, as a precautionary measure, issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace,” said the CAA.
“The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s safety directive will be in place until further notice. We remain in close contact with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and industry regulators globally.”
This decision comes after authorities in China, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia banned the 737 variation. The United States continues to green light use of the fleet, which initially proved one of Boeing’s most successful after over 5,000 orders were placed – around 350 of which have been delivered.
Later on Tuesday, France, Ireland and Iceland placed their own suspensions on Max 8 planes along with Icelandair, Norwegian Airlines and TUI.
Boeing released a statement on the matter, which read: “Safety is Boeing’s number one priority and we have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX.
“We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets. We’ll continue to engage with them to ensure they have the information needed to have confidence in operating their fleets.”
