UAE-based low-cost airline flydubai, which operates 737 MAX jets, is in touch with Boeing after the fatal crash in Ethiopia and remains confident in its fleet reliability, an airline spokesperson said on Monday
DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2019) UAE-based low-cost airline flydubai, which operates 737 MAX jets, is in touch with Boeing after the fatal crash in Ethiopia and remains confident in its fleet reliability, an airline spokesperson said on Monday.
On Sunday, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane carrying 157 people, including eight crew members, crashed in a rural area southeast of Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, killing everyone on board.
"Flydubai monitors the situation and continues to be in touch with Boeing. We are still confident in the suitability of our fleet for flights. The safety of our passengers and crew is our priority," the spokesperson stated.
The airline currently owns 14 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, including the infamous MAX 8 models, and has 237 more similar jets ordered, data from the US aircraft manufacturer from January showed. Flydubai was one of the first companies that ordered the planes in July 2017, two months after they officially entered service.
According to the airline's spokesperson, the introduction of new models into the flydubai fleet is regulated by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and approved by "relevant regulatory authorities."
"So the aviation sector is strictly regulated, and flydubai fully observes all the rules," he concluded.
The FAA originally certified the 737 MAX in 2017.
This latest catastrophe is the second fatal incident involving the narrow-body aircraft in less than five months. In late October 2018, another Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Indonesia's Lion Air, plunged into the Java Sea shortly after take-off, claiming the lives of 189 people. According to the preliminary investigation, the plane's sensors were showing incorrect speed and altitude readings.
