China’s ‘zero tolerance’ attitude means grounding troubled Boeing 737 Max 8 was not an accident
- Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first to ground the model of aircraft following the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people on March 10
- United States had initially resisted, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval process now being investigated by the US Department of Transportation
China’s decision to ground the Boeing model involved in the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash within the first 20 hours of the March 10 tragedy was a result of an ever-increasing and deep-rooted risk averse culture, industry insiders said.
Portrayed as a rare victory for China in the court of international public opinion, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said its decision was made due to safety concerns, with no suggestion of undermining the United States despite the widely reported ongoing disagreements between the two countries, including the ongoing trade war and arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.
Feng Jiangtao, the security director of Juneyao Airlines, a private airline based in Shanghai, said the swift decision to ground the 97 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft operating in China, or about 3 per cent of total fleet in service across the country, will help boost the position of China’s aviation authority alongside the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
“After all, China is now the world’s largest market for aircraft, and China is making its own long-haul aircraft – China should have its own say in terms of aircraft safety,” Feng said.
Feng added that China has always “put safety as a priority” to ensure there are no accidents in the civil aviation industry “regardless of the costs”.