Boeing has grounded its entire fleet of the Boeing 737 Max variant after the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash. The US plane maker said that all of their 371 aircrafts would be suspended.
The Federal Aviation Administration is a national authority with powers to regulate all aspects of civil aviation in the US said, fresh evidence as well as newly refined satellite data prompted the decision to temporarily ban the jets.
https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1105908677612056578
Previously the regulator held out while major nations banned the aircraft.
The FAA team that was investigating the Ethiopian Airlines crash site said, “It became clear to all parties that the track of the Ethiopian Airlines [flight] was very close and behaved very similarly to the Lion Air flight. The evidence we found on the ground made it even more likely the flight path was very close to Lion Air’s.”
Earlier 49 countries suspended the Boeing 737 Max before the FAA issued the statement.
The US plane manufacturer said it continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max, however after consultation with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board it had decided to ground all 371 flights.
Boeing received 5123 orders for the Boeing Max 737 Max, off which 371 were delivered. Until the safety of Being 737 Max is proven there won’t be any new deliveries.
This might delay expansion plans of certain airline companies after the economical, fuel-efficient and longer range 737 MAX was banned. With the current situation the future for the aircraft looks uncertain.
The unprecedented grounding of the aircraft wiped off US$27 billion off Boeing until Wednesday.
Thousands of passengers were affected due to the suspension of the aircraft, hundreds of flights were cancelled.
In India a private airline SpiceJet said that they will seek compensation from Boeing and demand credit on maintenance, repair, and overhaul for the 12 grounded 737 MAX aircraft in its fleet.