The United Kingdom and at least five other nations have halted flights of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in their airspace, following two deadly crashes involving the aircraft in the past six months.
The United Kingdom and at least six other nations have halted flights of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in their airspace, following two deadly crashes involving the aircraft in the past six months.
On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board. In October, a Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew.
Both crashes involved Max 8 aircraft, which nosedived shortly after takeoff.
“Given the similarity of the two accidents, it has been decided that as a precautionary measure that all Boeing 737-8 ‘MAX’ and Boeing 737-9 ‘MAX’ operations in the United Kingdom, whether by UK AOC holders or foreign AOC holders and carriers, should stop until appropriate safeguards are in place,” UK Civil Aviation Authority officials said in a statement Tuesday.
British officials said there are five Max 8 planes registered and operating in the United Kingdom, with a sixth that had been set to begin operations later this week.
Authorities in Germany, China, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and Oman also have temporarily suspended flights of the Max 8, or otherwise closed their airspace to the planes.
The FAA is not grounding the 737 Max 8, but is ordering Chicago-based Boeing to begin safety-related software enhancements on those planes by next month.
There are 74 of these planes used in the United States and 387 worldwide.
The changes to the Boeing jets have been in the works since the Lion Air crash in October.
One of the changes includes updates to the anti-stall system, which automatically points the plane’s nose down if sensors find the plane could be in danger of losing lift.
