The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) has confirmed on Monday that Chinese aviation regulator has ordered its airlines to halt the operations of Boeing 737-8 aircraft, following Ethiopian airlines’ 737 MAX 8 plane crash.
According to Global News reports, the CAAC has posted on its website confirming it had urged to suspend the domestic transportation of Boeing 737-8 aeroplanes. The state-owned news agency Cajjan first reported the story Sunday evening.
The measure was undertaken because the Ethiopia plane crash was the second similar crash since an Indonesia crash took place in December.
A Boeing 737-8 aeroplane crashed minutes after taking off on Sunday which claimed the lives of all 157 people onboard. Ethiopia crash was the second crash of the 737 MAX, which has entered in service in 2017.
Cajjan said the Chinese airlines slated to operate around 60 such aeroplanes had received orders from the CAAC and has also suspended their use and operations on Sunday.
However, a Boeing spokesperson refused to comment, as well as the CAAC also could not be immediately reached for comments. Also, the United States officials have told Reuters that Washington was not sure of what information does China was reacting on.
Many flights scheduled to use 737 Max planes ordered to use the 737-800 models, according to state-run Caijing news outlet.
Four 737 MAX aircrafts had landed on Sunday evening and no further flights were scheduled until Tuesday.
Fiji Airways said, “We continue to ensure that our maintenance and training programme for pilots and engineers meets the highest safety standards.”