U.S. GROUNDS 737 MAX FLEET
President decides to halt flights of Boeing Max 8, 9
FAA issues an emergency order grounding all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the wake of an Ethiopian jet crash that killed 157.
When passengers filed aboard Southwest Flight 872 at Albany International Airport Wednesday afternoon, they no doubt hoped for a smooth, uneventful flight to West Palm Beach with a quick stopover in Baltimore.
But as Flight 872 made its first stop, President Donald J. Trump and federal regulators were announcing plans to immediately ground Boeing Max 8 and 9 aircraft. The Southwest flight was a Max 8.
The U.S. action to ground the Max 8, which has had two fatal crashes in the past five months that killed 346 passengers and crew, came a day after the European Union, a number of airlines, and countries ranging from Australia to Singapore and China had made the same decision.
Trump’s emergency order came just hours after Canada moved to ground the aircraft. When he made it, just two domestic carriers — American and Southwest — were still operating the Max 8. United operates the larger Max 9.
Trump in his announcement said that any plane in the air would continue to its destination and remain grounded until further notice.
That’s apparently what happened to Flight 872. After arrival, it sat on the ground for two hours. Scheduled to resume its trip to West Palm Beach The safety of the American people, and all people, is our paramount concern.”
President Donald J. Trump in announcing the grounding of the Boeing Max 8 and 9 fleet at 3:10 p.m., it now wasn’t scheduled to leave until 5:15 p.m.
When its new departure status was posted at flightstats.com, the flight now was operating with an older Boeing 737-700. Southwest had swapped out the Max 8.
The 34 Max 8 aircraft Southwest operates make up less than 5 percent of its fleet of 750 aircraft. And those were the only Max 8 aircraft that regularly served Albany. American, the other Max 8 operator, uses jets manufactured by Airbus on its mainline flights out of Albany.
Jean Gagnon, who operates Plaza Travel in Latham, said airlines typically rebook passengers on other carriers or substitute different planes for those taken out of service. Often, the passenger will receive an email or text message confirming the new flight arrangements.
Norwegian Air also operates the Max 8, using it on some of its flights between Stewart International Airport in Newburgh and Europe. The airline grounded its Max 8 fleet on Tuesday.
The Max 8 has been popular with airlines because it is far more fuel efficient, meaning it can travel farther on a given amount of fuel. That enabled it cross the Atlantic, for example.
The Max models have become the fastest-selling in Boeing’s history, with nearly 4,700 ordered. Only about 370 have been delivered thus far. The 737 first debuted in the autumn of 1967.
On Sunday, an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8, delivered to the carrier just last November, crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, Kenya. The crash killed all 157 people on board.
The sequence of events was similar enough to the earlier crash of a Lion Air Max 8 last October to lead Canadian regulators earlier Wednesday to ground the aircraft in their country. The Lion Air crash killed 189 people.
“The safety of the American people, and all people, is our paramount concern,” Trump said in announcing his emergency order. He also suggested that investigators had new information and physical evidence that would support the decision to ground the aircraft, but did not offer any details.
Boeing, in a statement supporting the move to ground the aircraft, said it had determined, “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety, to recommend to the FA A the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 Max aircraft.”
On Wednesday evening, Flight 872 lifted off at Baltimore Washington International Airport at 5:14 p.m., according to Southwest. It was expected to land in West Palm Beach at 7:30 p.m., an hour and 45 minutes behind schedule.