China has called on domestic airlines to ground Boeing’s 737 Max 8 following yesterday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash.
The China Civil Aviation Administration released a statement saying that yesterday’s crash was the second air disaster in the Boeing 737-8 aircraft following the October 29th Indonesian Lion Air accident.
On October 29, 2018, an Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX 8 aircraft carrying 189 people crashed in the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board.
The statement said, “In view of the fact that the two air crashes are newly delivered Boeing 737-8 aircraft, and they all occur in the take-off phase, they have certain similarities. In line with the management principle of zero tolerance for safety hazards and strict control of safety risks, in order to ensure the flight of civil aviation in China Security, at 9:00 on March 11, the Civil Aviation Administration issued a notice requesting domestic transportation airlines to suspend the commercial operation of the Boeing 737-8 aircraft before 18:00 on March 11, 2019.
The Civil Aviation Authority will contact the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing Company to notify the shipping airlines to resume the commercial operation of the Boeing 737-8 aircraft after confirming the relevant measures to effectively ensure flight safety.”
It is reported that the current number of Boeing 737 MAX delivered to China Airlines has exceeded 60, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and other major airlines.
Separately, a notice on a social media account of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said that 96 737 Max 8s used by domestic carriers have been grounded. The notice named Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Lucky Air, Okay Airways, 9 Air, Fuzhou Airlines, and Kunming Airlines as the carriers affected. (The notice was later deleted, but Chinese media outlets carried screenshots of it.)
