Civil Aviation monitoring Boeing 737 Max investigations

THE TT Civil Aviation Authority is monitoring investigations into a plane crash on Sunday in Ethiopia of a Boeing 737 Max 8 and will take action if flight safety is compromised, reported Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan.

He was responding to a question in Senate yesterday from Opposition Senator Wade Mark who asked if local aviation authorities were considering suspending the use of the aircraft as has been done in other countries. After an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, killing 157 people on board the European Union, India and other countries banned the aircraft flying over their airspace to ensure passenger safety. The recent crash is the second fatal accident involving the 737 Max 8 model in less than five months as last October a Lion Air 737 Max 8 departing Indonesia crashed just 12 minutes after take off.

Yesterday Sinanan said the TT Civil Aviation Authority is mindful of the information in the public domain with respect to the recent accident and notes from media reports that the accident is being investigated by the relevant authorities.

“Consequently the TT Civil Aviation Authority cannot be engaged in speculation about the cause of the accident and will take action once it has reason to believe that safety of flight is compromised. The authority is monitoring the events related and extends its condolences to all those who have lost friends, family and loved ones.”

Mark asked if there was any commercial aircraft that operates within TT airspace using Boeing 737 model. Sinanan said American Airlines operates these aircraft and he believes United Airlines also does so.

State air carrier Caribbean Airlines announced in November that it would add 12 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to its fleet, starting in the fourth quarter of 2019. Asked previously by Newsday to clarify if the decision to upgrade the fleet was still on Caribbean Airlines Ltd CEO Garvin Medera neither confirmed nor denied, instead saying, “We will be guided in our decision making by safety which remains our number one priority.”