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12th Mar 2019

Boeing 737 aircraft involved in Ethiopian Airlines crash banned from UK airspace

Marc Mayo

Boeing 737

Max 8 planes won’t even be allowed to fly over the United Kingdom.

The type of aircraft involved in the crash that killed 157 people in Ethiopia on Sunday has been banned from British airspace.

Boeing’s 737 Max 8 model has now crashed twice in less than six months, the Ethiopian Airlines crash coming after a Lion Airs flight crashed in Indonesia, killing 189.

On Tuesday afternoon, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that Max 8 planes are suspended from flying into or out of the country, as well as over it, while investigations continue to determine what caused the crash.

“As we do not currently have sufficient information from the flight data recorder we have, as a precautionary measure, issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace,” said the CAA.

“The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s safety directive will be in place until further notice. We remain in close contact with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and industry regulators globally.”

This decision comes after authorities in China, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia banned the 737 variation. The United States continues to green light use of the fleet, which initially proved one of Boeing’s most successful after over 5,000 orders were placed – around 350 of which have been delivered.

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Transport, Robert Troy TD has said that the Irish Aviation Authority must now act similarly.

“This is the second deadly incident involving this model of jet in less than five months. Passengers are understandably frightened and aviation experts are trying to ascertain how this has happened. It is quite a common aircraft and has carried thousands of Irish passengers in recent times.”