India and Vietnam decided on Wednesday to close their airspace for flights of Boeing 737 MAX jets following the deadly crash of this type of plane in Ethiopia
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2019) India and Vietnam decided on Wednesday to close their airspace for flights of Boeing 737 MAX jets following the deadly crash of this type of plane in Ethiopia.
On Sunday, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All 157 people from more than 30 countries onboard the airplane died. That was the second fatal incident involving this type of plane in just five months. The first one occurred in Indonesia on October 29 last year and claimed 189 lives. On Tuesday, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced its decision to suspend flights of Boeing 737 MAX jets.
"In continuation to the decision of DGCA to ground the B737 Max operations, further clarification follows. B737Max operations Will stop from/to all Indian airport's. Additionally no B737 Max aircraft will be allowed to enter or transit Indian airspace effective 16:00hrs IST or 10:30 UTC [GMT]. The time line is to cater to situations where aircraft can be positioned at maintenance facilities & international flights can reach their destinations," the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation wrote on its Twitter page.
The similar move was announced on Wednesday by the Vietnamese authorities.
"The ban will hit airlines as they will be have to use other planes but this is being done for security interests," the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), Dinh Viet Thang said, as quoted by the VnExpress media outlet.
The ban reportedly entered into force starting from 10 a.m. local time (03:00 GMT). The Boeing 737 MAX jets were used for flight to and from Vietnam by the Eastar Jet, Lion Air and Malindo Air airlines.
Following the deadly crash in Ethiopia, a number of countries, including EU states, China, and Australia, have suspended the flights of Boeing 737 MAX planes. Dozens of airlines have also announced they are grounding the aircraft.
