45 countries have banned flights of the Boeing 737 Max
While the US aviation authority said there was "no basis" to stop flying the Boeing 737 Max 8 after two catastrophic accidents of Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air, at least 45 countries have simultaneously stopped flying or closed their airspace to this type of aircraft.
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| A Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. Photo: Reuters |
Sputnik reported that on March 12, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an official announcement closing EU airspace to all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. Due to this decision, a series of flights had to be diverted from EU airspace, including two planes that had to be diverted from Prague airport in the Czech Republic yesterday.
“EASA will continue to assess the data. As the investigation is ongoing, it is too early to draw any conclusions on the cause of the accident,” the European Aviation Safety Agency said in a statement, referring to the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 on March 10 that killed 157 people.
Before the EU made this move, a series of countries had also banned flights of the Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet, including China, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and India. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), as of March 12, at least 45 countries had stopped flying or closed their airspace to the Boeing 737 Max 8.
Many airlines around the world have also made independent moves to stop flying this type of aircraft, including Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Eastar Jet (South Korea), Comair Airways (South Africa), Aerolineas Argentinas (Argentina), Aeromexico (Mexico), Norwegian Air (Norway), and Turkish Airlines (Türkiye).
Reuters cited statistics from the Flightglobal website on March 12 saying that about 40% of the total 371 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft currently being operated by airlines worldwide are temporarily grounded, including 97 aircraft in the largest market, China.
The Ethiopian Airlines crash comes just months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people. It is not yet clear whether the two crashes had the same cause, but they do have similarities as they both involved Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and both crashed just minutes after takeoff.
The crash has caused Boeing shares to plummet in recent days. As of yesterday, the company’s shares had fallen nearly 12%, wiping out about $27 billion in market value, according to Bloomberg.
