Aviation regulators of China, elsewhere ordered Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 to stop flying after second crash of the model in five months

Civil aviation regulators of China, Ethiopia, Indonesia have ordered domestic carriers to stop flying the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft

More than a dozen Chinese carriers operate the model, with 246 domestic routes and 355 domestic flights scheduled on Monday

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A Boeing 737 Max 8 with the livery of Hainan Airlines. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) ordered all domestic carriers to stop flying the aircraft by 6pm, March 11, pending an investigation. Hainan Airlines operates 16 of the aircraft. Photo: SCMP/Hainan Airlines

Published: 2:34pm, 11 Mar 2019Updated: 12:49pm, 12 Mar 2019

Civil aviation regulators of China, Ethiopia and at least two other jurisdictions have ordered carriers to temporarily stop flying the 737 MAX 8 aircraft, as yesterday’s crash in Addis Ababa was the second fatal accident in five months involving the latest version of what Boeing calls “the most popular jet aircraft of all time.”

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), whose airlines are collectively the world’s biggest customers of the 737 MAX 8, ordered all commercial operations involving the single-aisle jet to halt by 6pm Monday. Ethiopian Airlines, operator of the ill-fated flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, grounded its fleet, as did Cayman Airways, the flag carrier of the British Cayman Islands.

Indonesia, the scene of Lion Air’s crash last October – the second deadliest air accident in the country – also ordered the aircraft to stop flying.

The design of the 737 model’s fourth-generation aircraft had “changed somewhat” since it entered service in 2017, which could “bring risks and uncertainty” to airlines that fly it, the CAAC’s deputy administrator Li Jian said, according to
China Youth Daily
.

In this photo taken from the Ethiopian Airlines Facebook page, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, looks at the wreckage of the plane that crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sunday March 10, 2019. Photo: Facebook via AP

The crash of ET302, killing all 157 people on board – including 19 United Nations personnel and eight Chinese – capped a disastrous five-month record for an aircraft that Boeing said had received 4,700 orders from more than 100 airlines worldwide. In October, a 737 MAX 8 flown by Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea 12 minutes after take-off in Jakarta, killing all 189 passengers and crew.