Hong Kong bans Boeing 737 MAX from city’s airspace following Ethiopia crash
- Prohibition will take effect at 6pm on Wednesday and continue until further notice, Civil Aviation Department spokesman says
- India’s budget carrier Spicejet and Russia’s S7 among the affected airlines
The United States looked increasingly isolated on Wednesday in its insistence on keeping the Boeing 737 MAX flying, with at least 45 jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, grounding the aircraft or barring it from entering their airspace.
There was no basis to suspend 737 MAX flights, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, regardless of confidence being shattered in other jurisdictions by two fatal crashes that have prompted several airlines and numerous regulators worldwide to take protective action.
“Thus far, our review shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft. Nor have other civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action,” FAA acting administrator Daniel Elwell said.
Hong Kong joined those not permitting Boeing’s upgrade of its bestselling jet to fly in, out or over their airspace, though it would have a limited impact on flights involving the city. No local airline flies that specific jet.
Vietnam, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand on Wednesday also banned the MAX jet from their airspace. Thailand announced a seven-day ban on the aircraft. That came after the European Union on Tuesday followed China’s lead in grounding the US-made aircraft.
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“The temporary prohibition will take effect at 6pm Hong Kong time on [Wednesday] and continue until further notice,” a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement.
“[It] is solely a precautionary measure to ensure aviation safety and protect the public.”
The effect of the ban on Hong Kong International Airport, one of the world’s busiest air transport hubs, would be minimal, Airport Authority CEO Fred Lam Tin-fuk said.
Cathay Pacific Airways said it would see a small impact as some customers were sold onward tickets in Canada on Westjet, which was still flying the 737 MAX. It said it would allow customers to re-route and reschedule.
“The aviation industry is really focused on safety. It is a very open culture and sharing information to make the world a safer place,” Cathay CEO Rupert Hogg said of the ban.
Indian budget carrier Spicejet, which flies from Delhi to Hong Kong using the MAX, and Russia’s S7, which operates a service from Novosibirsk, will use different planes on the routes.
As of 1am Thursday, Hong Kong time, only the US, Panama, and Mauritania were permitting their airlines to fly the 737 MAX. Canada, which has the world’s third-largest 737 MAX fleet, 41 planes, became the latest to ground the planes on Wednesday morning, Eastern time.
Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s largest carriers, said it was suspending use of its 12 MAX aircraft from Wednesday until the uncertainty was clarified. Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, another large operator of the jet, with 18 MAX aircraft, said it was seeking compensation from Boeing.
Chinese airlines, which are among the biggest operators of MAX jets, could also try to recoup losses. The nation’s largest carrier, China Southern, flew 24 jets before the grounding.
The three US carriers using the MAX – Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines – stood by the aircraft, as calls from members of the US Congress and powerful airline workers’ unions to ban the jet from US airspace increased.
Former US transportation secretary Ray LaHood, who grounded Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner in 2013 over batteries catching fire, a move that prompted the rest of the world to follow, agreed the MAXs should be stopped from flying.
US President Donald Trump also weighed in with a tweet on Tuesday. “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT,” he wrote, referring to the prestigious university.
The New York Times reported that Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg called Trump, urging him not to ground the plane.
Brian Parrish, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, which flies 34 MAX 8s, said the carrier remained confident about the plane’s safety. American Airlines, which flies 24 MAX family jets, echoed the remarks.
Before the groundings there were 371 jets in the 737 MAX family in operation, according to aviation website Flightglobal. Around two-thirds of the fleet is now grounded, based on Reuters calculations.
The widening ban on the aircraft puts pressure on Boeing – the world’s biggest plane manufacturer – to prove the MAX jets are safe, and the company said it was rolling out flight software updates by April that could address issues with a faulty sensor.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the Ethiopian crash is likely to pick up pace as the voice and data recorder black boxes could be sent to Europe for analysis. Ethiopian Airlines said the pilot of the downed jet reported flight control problems shortly before the crash. CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told the BBC the MAX jet should be grounded until it is determined that it is safe to fly.
