China, Ethiopia, Indonesia ground fleets of Boeing 737 MAX planes
TULU FARA, ETHIOPIA China, Ethiopia and Indonesia grounded fleets of Boeing 737 MAX 8 after the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that killed all 157 people on board.
Ethiopia's Parliament declared yesterday a day of mourning over the crash.
Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's largest carrier, said yesterday it was grounding its remaining fleet of six 737 MAX 8 Boeings "until further notice", AFP reported.
China, too, ordered domestic airlines to suspend commercial operation of the Boeing 737 MAX 8.
Nearly 100 planes have been grounded.
Indonesia was also grounding its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.
Indonesia's director-general of air transport Polana Pramesti said the country "will take steps to carry out inspections and temporarily prohibit Boeing 737 Max 8 from flying in Indonesia".
The inspections on Indonesia's 11 Max 8 jets will start today and the plane will stay grounded until it was cleared by safety regulators, she added.
Boeing has described the MAX series as its fastest-selling plane with more than 4,500 orders placed by July last year.
SilkAir, which operates the 737 MAX, said it was monitoring the situation, but its planes continued to operate as scheduled, Bloomberg reported.
Jet Airways and SpiceJet, two Indian airlines that use the 737 MAX jet, and the country's regulators have asked Boeing for information.
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