China grounds all Boeing 737 MAX planes after Ethiopian air crash
The Chinese government has grounded all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, after an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model crashed shortly after take-off killing everyone onboard.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement on Monday morning that all domestic Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets would be out of action until 6 p.m. local time, due to its principle of “zero tolerance for safety hazards.”
The Ethiopian Airlines incident was second time in less than six months that a brand-new Boeing aircraft has crashed just minutes into a flight. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight went down over the Java Sea in late October, killing all 189 people on board.
“Given in both air crashes, the aircrafts were newly delivered Boeing 737 MAX 8, and both accidents occur during the take-off, they share certain similarities,” the administration said in a statement.
The Chinese authority said it would contact Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration to confirm “flight safety” issues before allowing the planes to fly again.
At this point there is no evidence what caused the Ethiopian Airlines crash and no evidence of a direct link between the cause of the two incidents.
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