Airlines from two more countries have temporarily grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft following Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, while Singapore and Australia have also banned the planes from flying in or out of their countries for the time being.
Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc and Comair, based in South Africa, have joined Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and the Cayman Islands in suspending operations of the jet.
It’s believed Comair and Royal Air Maroc each have one Boeing 737 MAX 8.
An unnamed official said Royal Air Maroc will not fly the aircraft until Boeing completes investigations.
It’s now known ‘at least’ nine people from the UK are among the 157 people on board who died when the Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines flight came down shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa. Two of the British passengers had dual nationality.
Crash investigators have located the voice and data recorders and officials from Boeing are assisting the investigation.
Sunday’s fatal crash was the second involving a 737 MAX 8 in five months. A Lion Air flight crashed off the coast of Indonesia in October.
There is no evidence at the moment the two accidents are linked.
Comair said: "While Comair has done extensive preparatory work prior to the introduction of the first 737 MAX 8 into its fleet and remains confident in the inherent safety of the aircraft, it has decided temporarily not to schedule the aircraft while it consults with other operators, Boeing and technical experts."
Some airlines, including Norwegian, TUI and FlyDubai, said their 737 MAX 8 flights are operating as normal.
Several North American airlines have said they are monitoring the investigation, while European Commission spokesman Enrico Brivio said: "The European Aviation Safety Agency will assess the risk and decide based on information received if there is any further action."
