Nearly 40 per cent of 371 Boeing 737 Max 800 in operation globally
have been grounded as Australia and Singapore joined the growing list of
nations banning the use of the troubled aircraft.
This is despite assurances by the United States aviation authorities that the plane is safe.
Aviation industry publication said China, with 97 Max 800 planes in
service, accounts for the bulk of the grounded planes, estimated at
148. There are 371 Boeing 737 Max 800 planes in service.
Ethiopian Airlines, which has four other 737 MAX 8 jets, said it was grounding them as a precaution.
Gol in Brazil temporarily suspended MAX 8 flights, as did
Argentina’s state airline Aerolineas Argentinas and Mexico’s Aeromexico.
Singapore Airlines, whose SilkAir brand operates 6 Boeing 737 MAX
aircraft, said it has temporarily withdrawn its fleet and would
re-accommodate affected customers.
Other airlines that operate Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Singapore –
China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai
Lion Air – are also affected.
Although the United States later modified its position on the
safety of the plane, by saying it will mandate Boeing to implement
design changes by April for the 737 MAX 8, Australia and Singapore felt
that precautionary steps are necessary after the second fatal crash of
the plane, killing 157 people in Ethiopia.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority followed Singapore’s
lead with a temporary suspension to review the risks, citing the best
interests of safety.
Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAS) showed question-marks
hanging over the aircraft after Sunday’s disaster could not be dispelled
so fast.
“During the temporary suspension, CAAS will gather more information
and review the safety risk associated with the continued operation of
the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of Singapore,” the regulator
said in a statement.
It was the first major regulator to order such an action, but the
anxiety was also evident among air travellers, who rushed to find out
from social media whether they were booked to fly on 737 MAX planes –
the same model involved in the Lion Air crash off Indonesia that killed
189 people in October.
There has been no information yet to link the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines incidents.
On Monday, Indonesia, Ethiopia, China announced they were grounding
their fleets of the U.S. planemaker’ s latest model, after the second
crash in five months.
Nearly 40 percent of the in-service fleet of 371 Boeing 737 MAX
jets globally is grounded, according to industry publication
Flightglobal, including 97 jets in the biggest market, China.
The scare has wiped billions of dollars off the market value of the
world’s biggest planemaker, as the Boeing Co share closed 5 percent
down on Monday having fallen by as much as 13.5 percent at one point.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a “continued
airworthiness notification” for the 737 MAX late on Monday to assure
operators, and detailed a series of design changes mandated by Boeing.
Boeing issued a statement as well, saying it had been working with
the FAA in the aftermath of a Lion Air crash to develop enhancements to
flight control software that will be deployed across the 737 MAX fleet
in coming weeks.
The new MAX 8 variant of the 737, the world’s best-selling modern
passenger aircraft, has bigger engines designed to use less fuel. It
entered service in 2017.
With another 4,661 on order, 737 Max 8s could become the workhorses for airlines around the globe for decades.
-NAN
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