Trump Turnabout, Orders US Airlines To Ground Boeing 737 Max Aircraft

The United States of American President Donald Trump has issued an emergency order to ground all Boeing 737 Max aircraft following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration had previously held out while many countries banned the aircraft from flying over their airspace.

Multiple sources reports that President Trump said the planes would now be grounded until Boeing “comes up with a solution”.

The US is the last country to suspend the aircraft following the disaster.

The crash in Addis Ababa killed 157 people.

It was the second fatal Max 8 disaster in five month after one crashed over Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.

Earlier on Wednesday, Canada grounded the planes after its transport minister Marc Garneau said he had received new evidence about the crash.

He said that satellite data showed possible similarities between flight patterns of Boeing 737 Max planes operating in Canada and the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed.

He said: “As a result of new data that we received this morning, and had the chance to analyze, and on the advice of my experts and as a precautionary measure, I issued a safety notice.

“This safety notice is effective immediately and will remain in place until further notice.”

The Nigerian government had also earlier today ordered that the troubled aircraft should not be allowed into the country’s airspace.

Minister of State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, told State House correspondents that the decision was arrived at the midweek Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said Nigeria authority will follow development just like every other nations and arrive a final decision when investigations has been concluded and made public on the aircraft.

“The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, whose mandate it is to issue advisory, has already issued advisory that nobody should fly into Nigeria or out of Nigeria using Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9, pending the determination of the actual cause of the crash in Ethiopia and also pending the outcome of the response of the manufacturer, which is Boeing.

“Regardless of the enormous safety records of this plane 737, it has caused concern in the world of aviation and you know aviation is universal, whatever affects one affects the other because aircraft will be flying in and out.

“So, we have issued directive that no operator with Boeing 737 Max 8 or Max 9 should operate into and outside our airports and this is being carried out,’’ Sirika affirmed.

Reports by BBC was used in this story