Australia grounds Boeing's 737 MAX in wake of fatal crashes

Australia's aviation safety authority has banned all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from flying to or from the country in the wake of two deadly plane crashes involving the brand new aircraft in the past five months. Overnight, the European Union's Aviation Safety Agency also suspended all 737 MAX flights in Europe as a precautionary measure. It followed similar moves by several countries including China, France, the UK, Turkey, Singapore, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Malaysia. In what is a major blow for the aerospace giant Boeing and an unusual split from American aviation regulators, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority said on Tuesday night that it was in the best interests of safety to ground the jets, operated here currently by Fiji Airways into Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

FIJI AIRWAYS B737-MAX 8 DQ-FAB (CN 64307)    File Photo

The airline had flights using the 737 MAX scheduled for this morning and was forced by the grounding to cancel its 6.15am flight from Sydney to Nadi.

Fiji Airways said in a statement issued late on Tuesday night that it will change the aircraft type operating to and from Australian destinations, and that some schedule changes are likely. "While Fiji Airways is confident in the airworthiness of our Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft and our robust training programme, we respect CASA's position," the statement said.

SILK AIR B737-8SA 9V-MGO (CN 44231)       File Photo

Singapore's SilkAir also flies 737 MAX 8s into Darwin and Cairns, but was already moving those services onto older planes after Singaporean authorities grounded the MAXs earlier on Tuesday. "This is a temporary suspension while we wait for more information to review the safety risks of continued operations of the Boeing 737 MAX," said CASA' chief executive and director of aviation safety, Shane Carmody. The latest disaster involving the aircraft came on Sunday, when an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa enroute to Nairobi, killing 157 people. The same model of aircraft flown by Indonesian carrier Lion Air went down shortly after taking from Jakarta in October, crashing into the Java Sea and killing 189 people. Australia joins a growing list of countries that have grounded the newest variant of Boeing's long-standing and best selling single-aisle workhorse, which only entered service in 2017. Shortly after CASA's announcement, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said it was also grounding all Boeing 737 MAXs as a precautionary measure, and also preventing any from flying over UK airspace. France, China, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Oman and Indonesia have all grounded the jet, while several airlines such as AeroMexico, Royal Air Maroc, Cayman Airways, South Korea's Eastar Jet, Norway's Air Shuttle and South Africa's Comair have chosen to pull it from service.


Below is a list of airlines that fly the 737 MAX 8 along with the status i.e. still flying or grounded





Virgin Australia has 40 MAX aircraft on order, and said it was "closely watching the situation", flagging it could change its order depending on the outcome of the investigations.

"With our first aircraft delivery not due until November this year, we believe there is sufficient time to consider the outcome of the investigation and make an assessment," a Virgin spokeswoman said.