Singapore bans 737 MAX in their airspace

Boeing 737 MAX 7 First Flight Air To Air. Photo: Boeing

Singapore bans 737 MAX in their airspace

An increasing number of countries and airlines are grounding aircraft of the model Boeing 737 MAX. The US aviation authorities, as well as others, await developments.


Singapore bans 737 MAX in their airspace

An increasing number of countries and airlines are grounding aircraft of the model Boeing 737 MAX. The US aviation authorities, as well as others, await developments.

The Singapore Aviation Authority decided to ban all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Singapore airspace on Tuesday. The ban will take effect at 2 pm today, local time.

157 passengers and crew died when An Ethiopian Airlines plane to Nairobi crashed just minutes after departure on Sunday. The aircraft is a 737 MAX 8, manufactured by Boeing.

The accident was the second in four months for the brand new aircraft model. A Lion Air aircraft crashing Indonesia in October, where 189 people died, the pilot reported similar problems during ascent. That plane also crashed only a few minutes after departure.

Drastic grip

China, South Korea, Indonesia and Ethiopia have all decided to put their MAX 8 aircraft on the ground. The grip in Singapore is, however, even more drastic. The prohibition applies to all variations of 737 MAX, not just the MAX 8. Additionally, the prohibition includes all 737 MAX aircraft entering or leaving the airspace of the island state.

Among the airlines that have decided to put their MAX 8 aircraft on the ground are Gol Airlines, AeroMexico, Ethiopian Airlines, Cayman Airways, Comair and Royal Air.

The pilots of Aerolineas Argentina refuse to fly it until the cause of the accident in Ethiopia is clarified.

Norwegian, who has 18 MAX-type aircraft and 90 on order, has no plans to refrain from using the aircraft type. The same applies to the tour operator TUI, who, among other destinations, uses it on routes to the Canary Islands.

A total of 350 MAX 8 aircraft have been delivered to airlines worldwide, including Norwegian. Boeing has more than on 5,000 order.

The US awaits developments

The pressure on the American air carrier Boeing is increasing, not least their market value, which dropped 10 per cent early on Monday. The company has sent its own experts to assist in the investigation in Ethiopia.

“The investigation is at an early stage, but based on what we know right now, we have no reason to issue revised guidelines for our operators,” the company writes in a  statement.

US authorities are awaiting developments. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) arrived at the accident site on Monday. FAA states that the specific requirements will probably be issued in April at the latest. They will, among other measures, require changes to the computer systems of the MAX 8.

The changes will be required in the software that prevents the planes from stalling and in the manoeuvring systems, for example.

The latest news is that Boeing will comply with this requirement.

Demand from Feinstein

The FAA does, however, not require aircraft to be grounded at the moment. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) demands that the aviation authority reverses this decision.

“Until the cause of the accident is revealed and it is clear that a similar hazard does not exist in US domestic aircraft, I believe that all Boeing 737 MAX 8 must be grounded,” writes Feinstein in a letter to the FAA. This according to the news agency Reuters.


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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