Ethiopian Airlines has grounded its Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet as a precaution following the crash of flight ET302 on the Addis Ababa-Nairobi route on 10 March.
The grounding is until further notice, says the airline.
“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as an extra safety precaution.”
Cirium's Fleets Analyzer shows that the airline has four in-service Max 8 aircraft following the loss of the fifth, ET-AVJ, in a crash six minutes after takeoff that killed all 157 aboard, comprising 149 passengers and eight crew.
The airline has orders for 25 additional Max 8s.
Ethiopian’s move follows a decision by the Civil Aviation Administration of China to ground the type following the crash of ET302, which came less than five months after a Lion Air jet of the same type crashed.
Cayman Airlines has also grounded its two Max 8s. The type’s three biggest operators – Southwest Air, American Airlines, and Air Canada – have told FlightGlobal that they will keep the type in service.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
