Countries move to ground Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as Boeing insists jet is safe

Countries banning the jet include Germany, France, Ireland, the UK, Singapore, Australia and China

Countries across Europe are moving to close their airspace to the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the aircraft involved in Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Germany, Ireland, France and the UK joined Singapore, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Indonesia in closing their airspace to the jet, which has suffered two deadly crashes in fewer than five months.

Turkish Airlines said it was grounding its Boeing 737 MAX fleet until further notice.

It comes as Boeing issued a statement saying that it had “full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX” and that safety was its “number one priority”.

“We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets,” the planemaker added.

All 157 passengers and crew aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa on Sunday. The Boeing 737 lost contact six minutes after departure from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital, heading for Nairobi.

Earlier today the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) banned all arrivals, departures and overflights of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Norwegian Air and Tui Airways, the two biggest operators of the jet in the UK, have grounded the aircraft in response, while two Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft bound for the UK turned back midway through the flight after the ban was imposed.

A spokesperson for the CAA said: “As we do not currently have sufficient information from the flight data recorder, we have, as a precautionary measure, issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace.

“The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s safety directive will be in place until further notice.

“We remain in close contact with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and industry regulators globally.”

The US’ Federal Aviation Authority, which has a team in Ethiopia working on the investigation, has not moved to ban the aircraft from its airspace.

In a statement issued yesterday, the American aviation watchdog said it was safe to fly the jet, issuing a “continued airworthiness notification” to reassure airlines. It said that if it found an issue that affected safety it would take “immediate and appropriate action”.

Dallas-based airline Southwest and American Airlines are two of the biggest operators of the aircraft in North America.

Boeing said in its statement today that it would continue to engage with its customers “to ensure they have the information needed to have confidence in operating their fleets”.

“The United States Federal Aviation Administration is not mandating any further action at this time, and based on the information currently available, we do not have any basis to issue new guidance to operators,” it added.