India bans flying of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft
After China, India joined a list of countries that banned flying of the controversial Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in its airspace.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a civil aviation watchdog, made the decision late last night after an Ehiopian Airlines plane Boeing 737 MAX 8 had crashed on Sunday killing 157 people on board, reports BSS.
The India Ministry of Civil Aviation said the planes will be grounded “immediately” until appropriate modifications and safety measures are taken to ensure their safe operations.
“As always, passenger safety remains our top priority. We continue to consult closely with regulators around the world, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers to ensure passenger safety,” the statement said.
In a tweeter message, the ministry said, “No B737 MAX aircraft will be allowed to enter or transit Indian airspace effective 1600hrs IST or 1030 UTC. The time line is to cater to situations where aircraft can be positioned at maintenance facilities & international flights can reach their destinations (sic)”.
After the government’s decision, Indian Spice Jet cancelled 14 flights for today saying it will be operating additional flights from tomorrow.
Among Indian carriers, Spice Jet has 13 jets of the model 8 variant in its 76 strong fleet while Jet Airways has five. Both airlines have suspended the operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets after the DGCA’s decision.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has directed the Civil Aviation Secretary to hold an emergency meeting with all airlines to prepare contingency plans.
Earlier on Tuesday, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the DGCA is in touch with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is monitoring the “Boeing situation very closely”.
In another accident, as many as 189 people were killed in October last year, when a Lion Airjet – a Boeing737 MAX 8 – crashed in the Java Sea, close to Jakarta, Indonesia.
China on Monday became the first country to order all Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes grounded in the aftermath of an Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday.
After China ordered a dozen carriers to ground their 96 planes – about a quarter of all 737 MAX aircraft in operation globally – authorities in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Morocco and Singapore quickly followed suit, along with carriers in Latin America and South Korea.
Despite the FAA issuing a statement backing the Boeing jet’s airworthiness, the European Union grounded the model Tuesday, as did at least 10 other countries, with authorities saying the aircraft would not be allowed to fly to or from their countries pending the investigation, according to media reports.
The US aviation regulator said on Tuesday it would not ground the MAX 8 planes. It said a review by the body “shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft.”
Boeing, the world’s biggest plane maker, which has seen billions of dollars wiped off its market value since the crash, said it understood the countries’ actions but retained “full confidence” in the 737 MAX and had safety as its priority.
Of the top 10 countries by air passenger travel, all but the United States and Japan have halted flights of the 737 MAX, media report said.
