Boeing temporarily grounds B737 MAX operations after Ethiopia Airlines plane crash

Chicago, Illinois, US (PANA) - US aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Wednesday temporarily grounded its entire 737 MAX operations.

In a statement on its website, it said in consultation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and its customers, it supports the action to temporarily ground its 737 MAX Operations.

The action follows the increasing number of airlines across the world who have grounded their fleets 737 MAX planes after Sunday's fatal crash in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of a 737 MAX 8 plane operated Ethiopian Airlines with the loss of 157 lives.

This accident of the brand new Ethiopian Airlines plane came only 5 months after the same model of the plane operated by Lion Air in Indonesia crashed shortly after takeoff claiming 189 lives.

Boeing stressed that it continues to have "full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX".  

"However, after consultation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and aviation authorities and its customers around the world, Boeing has determined -- out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety -- to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 MAX aircraft," the US plane manufacturer said.

President Donald Trump also said his Administration was ordering the 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 grounded in light of "new information" about the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The FAA said new evidence had been collected at the site of the crash and that information, along with new satellite data led to the decision.  

Dennis Muilenburg, president, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of The Boeing Company said: “On behalf of the entire Boeing team, we extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in these two tragic accidents.”

He added: “We are supporting this proactive step out of an abundance of caution. Safety is a core value at Boeing for as long as we have been building airplanes; and it always will be. There is no greater priority for our company and our industry. We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again.”

Ethiopian Airlines has said the flight recorders from its plane that crashed on Sunday shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa have been recovered.

Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement on Monday that two devices — the cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder — were recovered from the crash site.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was flying to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, when it went down six minutes after take off.

-0- PANA MA 13March2019