The pressure has been building on the Federal Aviation Administration to ground the Boeing 737 Max fleet in the United States following the tragic Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday. China was the first country to ground the jet amid concerns that the cause of this crash might be similar to that of the Lion Air crash six months ago which also involved a Boeing 737 Max 8. Merely a day after the FAA expressed confidence in the jet, it has now announced that the jet has been grounded.
The United States has issued an emergency order to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 and the 737 Max 9 aircraft. Many other countries across the globe have taken similar actions over the past week, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Indonesia, Australia, and more.
The decision to issue the emergency order was made by President Donald Trump following consultations with FAA acting director Daniel Elwell and US transportation secretary Elaine Chao. He also spoke with Boeing’s CEO about the move. Once the order was issued, any 737 Max jet in the air was to be grounded after it reached the destination while those on the ground were grounded until further notice with immediate effect.
Boeing sent out its own press release after the order came out, saying that “Boeing has determined — out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety — to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 MAX aircraft.”
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