• The number of airlines grounded excelled 27
ADDIS ABABA – Following Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the Town of Bishoftu, South East of Addis Ababa on Sunday, international aviation industry in various parts of the globe are conveying their concern on Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, as Reuters reported. According to Reuters, China and Indonesia have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft that had been operating by their airlines in reaction to the fatal crash of a plane of the same type operated by the Ethiopian Airlines on Sunday.
China was one of the first countries to ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets on Monday. According to Chinese flight tracker VariFlight, 355 routes inside China were supposed to be flown by 737 MAX 8s. Of those, 288 flights were flown by different aircraft, 62 were canceled and 145 delayed.
Most passengers were flown on the Boeing 737-800s instead of the 737 MAX 8. Over 27 countries including the biggest economies Germany, France , UK joined Ethiopian in suspending the Aircraft as a precautionary move, reported New York Times. Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has temporarily suspended airlines from flying all Boeing 737 MAX -8 jets to or from Australia.
“This is a temporary suspension while we wait for more information to review the safety risks of continued operations of the Boeing 737 MAX8 to and from Australia,” said Shane Carmody CASA CEO. No Australian airlines fly the 737 MAX, CASA said, but two foreign carriers had previously flown the aircraft into the country — Singapore’s SilkAir and Fiji Airways. SilkAir has been temporarily barred from flying any 737 MAX out of Singapore by the city state’s aviation authority.
On the same development, Air India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation noted that regulator would issue additional safety instructions to Indian carriers operating the MAX 8. Jet Airways and Spice Jet Ltd operate the plane. South Korean Transport Ministry also uttered South Korea is conducting an emergency inspection on Eastar Jet’s two MAX 8 jets, a Ministry official said.
The Eastar Jet said that it would temporarily ground its two 737 MAX 8s from Wednesday to better cooperate with the government’s required emergency safety inspections, an Airline spokesman said on Tuesday. Number of airlines that temporarily suspended flight of Boeing 737 MAX 8 yesterday evening excelled 27 according to New York Times is likely to increase over the days to come, according to various media sources.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 13/2019
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
