Civil Aviation bans Boeing B737 Max from passing Egyptian airspace

CAIRO – 13 March 2019: The Egyptian Civil Aviation banned the crossing, landing and takeoff of Boeing B737 Max aircraft for passenger and aviation safety after the unfortunate incident of the Ethiopian Airlines on March 10.

According to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Wednesday, Egypt Air does not have this type of airplane.

On Monday, March 11, Egypt contacted the Ethiopian authorities to get back the six dead bodies of Egyptian passengers who were killed on board of the Ethiopian crashed airplane on Sunday, said the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday.

“An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed Sunday morning, killing all passengers on board, including six Egyptians,” the Ethiopian Airlines stated on Sunday.

An Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed six minutes after taking-off from Addis Ababa, killing all the passengers on board. The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.

It added that 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals were among the passengers; in addition to others who have not been identified yet.

The crash happened at 8:44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off.

It is not yet clear what caused the accident; however, the pilot had reported difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, the airline said.

The Ethiopian investigators have recovered the black box recorders on Monday, BBC reported.

After the accident, several countries suspended operations of their 737 MAX such as Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Holland, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Singapore Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and Vietnam.