Ethiopian Airlines announced on Monday that it had decided to suspend the operation of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes as a precaution after the company's brand new aircraft of the same model crashed in central Ethiopia, killing all those on board
MOSCOW/BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2019) Ethiopian Airlines announced on Monday that it had decided to suspend the operation of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes as a precaution after the company's brand new aircraft of the same model crashed in central Ethiopia, killing all those on board.
The crash involving Ethiopian Airlines' Flight ET 302/10 occurred in the morning of March 10, minutes after the Nairobi-bound plane took off from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. All 157 people from over 30 countries who were on board the Boeing were killed. The causes of the accident are yet unknown. According to the airline, the plane was well-maintained.
"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. 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 airline said in a press release published on its official website.
Similar precautions have been taken by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which has also banned Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights for an unspecified period of time, pointing to similarities between Sunday's crash and the Boeing accident off Indonesia's coast last October.
"Based on safety considerations for civil flights, the Civil Aviation Administration demanded on March 11, at 9.00 [01:00 GMT], that airlines operating in China suspend commercial flights on Boeing 737 [MAX] 8 aircraft starting from 6:00 p.m. on March 11, 2019," the body said in a statement.
Just over four months have passed since another Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Indonesian Lion Air, crashed into the Java Sea shortly after departing from the airport. The accident claimed the lives of 189 people. The black box retrieved after the crash revealed that the sensors of the plane had been showing incorrect speed and altitude readings.
